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Category: Analysis Assessment

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: EU efforts to measure companies’ environmental impacts have global effects. Here’s how to make them more just

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Mira Manini Tiwari, Research Associate at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute

    If you choose to buy a sustainable product at the supermarket, or invest in a sustainable portfolio at your bank, how far does that sustainability reach? Does the product’s “sustainable” label account for the environmental and labour costs where the raw materials were extracted? Does the portfolio include renewable energy in countries where the investment is needed most?

    In the EU, whether you are an individual or represent a company or financial institution, these questions are governed by the bloc’s non-financial reporting (NFR) regulations. The latest ones include the European Sustainable Reporting Standards (ESRS), which are gradually coming into force through 2029. The ESRS set out reporting standards and requirements, while the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) determines which companies these standards apply to, to what extent, and when.

    These EU regulations also have strong implications for the Majority World, the countries and territories outside Europe and North America where most people live, at a time when global, systemic policy effects are more important than ever. As supply chains become longer and more interconnected, and as communities involved in them confront the fragilities of economic, political and climate shifts, the regulations that govern the sustainability of these chains and that enable or prohibit participation in them must be crafted and implemented to minimise harm to the most vulnerable.

    In an article in Environment and Development Economics, my co-authors and I developed a set of proposals to improve the global sustainability of the NFR regulations. These call for collaborative development of regulations across the value chain, better data accessibility, measuring of and accounting for cross-border environmental damage, and greater integrity and engagement from financial actors.


    A weekly e-mail in English featuring expertise from scholars and researchers. It provides an introduction to the diversity of research coming out of the continent and considers some of the key issues facing European countries. Get the newsletter!

    Cooperation, not compliance

    As the ESRS come into force, reporting requirements are being applied to companies’ full value chains. This means that Majority World actors, such as those that extract raw materials for European products, may be indirectly subjected to the NFR regulations. This is important, as it holds companies and consumers, EU and non, accountable for the ethics of the goods and services they rely on. However, when regulations are built without directly involving those they will affect, they risk causing collateral, longer-term damage. For example, reporting requirements that feel inaccessible to smaller organisations can foster distrust and backlash, or cause companies to withdraw from contexts where data are less accessible, taking away key sources of income for communities.

    While global climate negotiations have come under public scrutiny for their Minority World dominance, there has been relatively less scrutiny of global organisations governing financial and corporate sustainability standards. On their boards, the Majority World is conspicuous by its absence, demonstrating the dearth of attention to its agency in enabling greater sustainability, both locally and globally. European investors and policymakers are already shifting capital from the Majority World back to the EU in response to the NFR regulations, citing the difficulty of accounting for activities along the length of value chains. The damage falls on livelihoods, industries and essential investments, such as in renewable energy, which can suddenly disappear.

    Developing NFR regulations in collaboration with all stakeholders, rather than only at the top, can provide a regulatory landscape that is, from the outset, more implementable, accessible and effective in the long run.

    Democratic data and digitalisation

    Efficacy in global NFR regulations relies on global data cooperation, which could lower the administrative burden on those reporting and enable greater accountability. The increasing number of EU NFR regulations do not exist in a vacuum: they have been accompanied by shifts in global regulations and a proliferation of national regulations. With regulations expanding to cover the full value chain, actors are increasingly likely to be subjected to multiple regulatory bodies, or have to provide data to reporting entities upstream. The time, financial resources and practical challenges involved in identifying, collecting, processing and sharing data are considerable, both for those submitting data and those receiving and verifying them. This makes divestment or significant losses more likely. Furthermore, the expansion of regulations can result in isolated streams of data and closed-circuit processes, which, in turn, cut out civil society organisations and individuals who use data to help hold firms to account for their social and environmental responsibilities.

    Aside from EU calls for a European Single Access Point for corporate data, Majority World contexts offer particularly fertile ground for reimagining and building data infrastructures. Digitalisation in low- and middle-income countries is growing rapidly, and demonstrates the ability to make digital financial and business instruments democratic and accessible to those with the fewest resources. Such efforts should involve statisticians and local data experts from the outset to determine and harmonise appropriate data, along with transnational entities with the mandate of establishing links across data systems.

    Support for international emissions accounting

    Corporate reporting on environmental impacts must be accompanied by their reduction. Indeed, the work and transparency required to identify impacts in the first place, let alone mitigate them, underpins decisions to simply detach from the system, moving economic activity to local contexts where impacts are more traceable.

    Firms that cannot afford to bring their activities onshore must account for emissions that occur from assets not directly under their ownership or control, which are known as Scope 3 emissions. In some cases, these emissions constitute well over half of a firm’s total value chain emissions. However, the implementation of the ESRS has designated the reporting of Scope 3 emissions, and climate impacts in general, to be largely discretionary, under the condition that firms provide evaluations of the economic and material implications of a given activity in their value chains.

    The glaring gaps between some firms’ targets, actions and declarations are in part enabled by reporting systems that allow the omission of more distant climate risks and impacts, maintaining the misalignment between climate pledges and actions aimed at achieving them. While the number of firms showing readiness to comply with Scope 3 accounting is increasing, data on global investor preferences suggests that investors do not necessarily prioritise companies’ performance on these emissions when making investment decisions. For ethics to exist on the ground, they must be prioritised in financial flows.

    Investment with integrity

    In light of the above, financial institutions have a core responsibility to engage with NFR. These institutions’ economic leverage and centrality in the value chains and activities of several sectors give them incentivising power to catalyse a shift from the submission of reports to the building of living data systems and the achievement of fuller value chain accountability. Currently, many investors are not willing to accept reductions in their returns in exchange for the pursuit of social or environmental goals. Surveys suggest this is in part due to perceptions of low quality of environmental information, limited ability to assess the data received, and the difficulty of making investment decisions accordingly. In the current landscape of Minority World-led reporting, such mistrust is likely to be greater with respect to Majority World data, reiterating the need for data systems and reporting mechanisms built on equal footing.

    Financial institutions can operate proactively, using their privileged access to data to bridge Minority and Majority World actors engaging in sustainable practices, such as microfinance bodies, local communities and relevant investors. Doing so could plug, at least in part, an information and trust gap that can hinder Minority World firms’ investment in unfamiliar contexts.

    Regulating for whom?

    The research underpinning our article initially involved a recommendation on streamlining and supporting reporting by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which account for more than 60% of the EU’s corporate emissions. For these firms, especially, regulators face a critical balance between lowering the entry barrier of the reporting ecosystem and setting robust environmental targets. The nature, data points and timelines of reporting under the CSRD are currently under review following calls for simplification and greater support, and decision-makers are wrestling with the tension between accessibility and integrity.

    Our work also included a recommendation that turns from the supply side, the focus of the preceding proposals, to the demand side: the data and sustainability literacy of the individual who walks into the supermarket to buy that sustainable product, or wants family investments to do more good than harm. Across sectors – public policy, investment and citizen engagement – resources must be dedicated to these literacies, so that actors are better placed to hold each other to account. Regulation becomes easily abstracted, reduced to figures and PDFs, databases and scores. Beneath each regulation is a world of citizens whose homes, livelihoods and health depend on them.

    The author was affiliated with the University of Siena during the period in which she and her colleagues did the original work for the scholarly article that is mentioned in this piece. The author’s affiliation came via a project that, overall, was financed by the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). The scholarly article and the present article were not outputs for the project.

    – ref. EU efforts to measure companies’ environmental impacts have global effects. Here’s how to make them more just – https://theconversation.com/eu-efforts-to-measure-companies-environmental-impacts-have-global-effects-heres-how-to-make-them-more-just-261226

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: EU efforts to measure companies’ environmental impacts have global effects. Here’s how to make them more just

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Mira Manini Tiwari, Research Associate at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute

    If you choose to buy a sustainable product at the supermarket, or invest in a sustainable portfolio at your bank, how far does that sustainability reach? Does the product’s “sustainable” label account for the environmental and labour costs where the raw materials were extracted? Does the portfolio include renewable energy in countries where the investment is needed most?

    In the EU, whether you are an individual or represent a company or financial institution, these questions are governed by the bloc’s non-financial reporting (NFR) regulations. The latest ones include the European Sustainable Reporting Standards (ESRS), which are gradually coming into force through 2029. The ESRS set out reporting standards and requirements, while the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) determines which companies these standards apply to, to what extent, and when.

    These EU regulations also have strong implications for the Majority World, the countries and territories outside Europe and North America where most people live, at a time when global, systemic policy effects are more important than ever. As supply chains become longer and more interconnected, and as communities involved in them confront the fragilities of economic, political and climate shifts, the regulations that govern the sustainability of these chains and that enable or prohibit participation in them must be crafted and implemented to minimise harm to the most vulnerable.

    In an article in Environment and Development Economics, my co-authors and I developed a set of proposals to improve the global sustainability of the NFR regulations. These call for collaborative development of regulations across the value chain, better data accessibility, measuring of and accounting for cross-border environmental damage, and greater integrity and engagement from financial actors.


    A weekly e-mail in English featuring expertise from scholars and researchers. It provides an introduction to the diversity of research coming out of the continent and considers some of the key issues facing European countries. Get the newsletter!

    Cooperation, not compliance

    As the ESRS come into force, reporting requirements are being applied to companies’ full value chains. This means that Majority World actors, such as those that extract raw materials for European products, may be indirectly subjected to the NFR regulations. This is important, as it holds companies and consumers, EU and non, accountable for the ethics of the goods and services they rely on. However, when regulations are built without directly involving those they will affect, they risk causing collateral, longer-term damage. For example, reporting requirements that feel inaccessible to smaller organisations can foster distrust and backlash, or cause companies to withdraw from contexts where data are less accessible, taking away key sources of income for communities.

    While global climate negotiations have come under public scrutiny for their Minority World dominance, there has been relatively less scrutiny of global organisations governing financial and corporate sustainability standards. On their boards, the Majority World is conspicuous by its absence, demonstrating the dearth of attention to its agency in enabling greater sustainability, both locally and globally. European investors and policymakers are already shifting capital from the Majority World back to the EU in response to the NFR regulations, citing the difficulty of accounting for activities along the length of value chains. The damage falls on livelihoods, industries and essential investments, such as in renewable energy, which can suddenly disappear.

    Developing NFR regulations in collaboration with all stakeholders, rather than only at the top, can provide a regulatory landscape that is, from the outset, more implementable, accessible and effective in the long run.

    Democratic data and digitalisation

    Efficacy in global NFR regulations relies on global data cooperation, which could lower the administrative burden on those reporting and enable greater accountability. The increasing number of EU NFR regulations do not exist in a vacuum: they have been accompanied by shifts in global regulations and a proliferation of national regulations. With regulations expanding to cover the full value chain, actors are increasingly likely to be subjected to multiple regulatory bodies, or have to provide data to reporting entities upstream. The time, financial resources and practical challenges involved in identifying, collecting, processing and sharing data are considerable, both for those submitting data and those receiving and verifying them. This makes divestment or significant losses more likely. Furthermore, the expansion of regulations can result in isolated streams of data and closed-circuit processes, which, in turn, cut out civil society organisations and individuals who use data to help hold firms to account for their social and environmental responsibilities.

    Aside from EU calls for a European Single Access Point for corporate data, Majority World contexts offer particularly fertile ground for reimagining and building data infrastructures. Digitalisation in low- and middle-income countries is growing rapidly, and demonstrates the ability to make digital financial and business instruments democratic and accessible to those with the fewest resources. Such efforts should involve statisticians and local data experts from the outset to determine and harmonise appropriate data, along with transnational entities with the mandate of establishing links across data systems.

    Support for international emissions accounting

    Corporate reporting on environmental impacts must be accompanied by their reduction. Indeed, the work and transparency required to identify impacts in the first place, let alone mitigate them, underpins decisions to simply detach from the system, moving economic activity to local contexts where impacts are more traceable.

    Firms that cannot afford to bring their activities onshore must account for emissions that occur from assets not directly under their ownership or control, which are known as Scope 3 emissions. In some cases, these emissions constitute well over half of a firm’s total value chain emissions. However, the implementation of the ESRS has designated the reporting of Scope 3 emissions, and climate impacts in general, to be largely discretionary, under the condition that firms provide evaluations of the economic and material implications of a given activity in their value chains.

    The glaring gaps between some firms’ targets, actions and declarations are in part enabled by reporting systems that allow the omission of more distant climate risks and impacts, maintaining the misalignment between climate pledges and actions aimed at achieving them. While the number of firms showing readiness to comply with Scope 3 accounting is increasing, data on global investor preferences suggests that investors do not necessarily prioritise companies’ performance on these emissions when making investment decisions. For ethics to exist on the ground, they must be prioritised in financial flows.

    Investment with integrity

    In light of the above, financial institutions have a core responsibility to engage with NFR. These institutions’ economic leverage and centrality in the value chains and activities of several sectors give them incentivising power to catalyse a shift from the submission of reports to the building of living data systems and the achievement of fuller value chain accountability. Currently, many investors are not willing to accept reductions in their returns in exchange for the pursuit of social or environmental goals. Surveys suggest this is in part due to perceptions of low quality of environmental information, limited ability to assess the data received, and the difficulty of making investment decisions accordingly. In the current landscape of Minority World-led reporting, such mistrust is likely to be greater with respect to Majority World data, reiterating the need for data systems and reporting mechanisms built on equal footing.

    Financial institutions can operate proactively, using their privileged access to data to bridge Minority and Majority World actors engaging in sustainable practices, such as microfinance bodies, local communities and relevant investors. Doing so could plug, at least in part, an information and trust gap that can hinder Minority World firms’ investment in unfamiliar contexts.

    Regulating for whom?

    The research underpinning our article initially involved a recommendation on streamlining and supporting reporting by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which account for more than 60% of the EU’s corporate emissions. For these firms, especially, regulators face a critical balance between lowering the entry barrier of the reporting ecosystem and setting robust environmental targets. The nature, data points and timelines of reporting under the CSRD are currently under review following calls for simplification and greater support, and decision-makers are wrestling with the tension between accessibility and integrity.

    Our work also included a recommendation that turns from the supply side, the focus of the preceding proposals, to the demand side: the data and sustainability literacy of the individual who walks into the supermarket to buy that sustainable product, or wants family investments to do more good than harm. Across sectors – public policy, investment and citizen engagement – resources must be dedicated to these literacies, so that actors are better placed to hold each other to account. Regulation becomes easily abstracted, reduced to figures and PDFs, databases and scores. Beneath each regulation is a world of citizens whose homes, livelihoods and health depend on them.

    The author was affiliated with the University of Siena during the period in which she and her colleagues did the original work for the scholarly article that is mentioned in this piece. The author’s affiliation came via a project that, overall, was financed by the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). The scholarly article and the present article were not outputs for the project.

    – ref. EU efforts to measure companies’ environmental impacts have global effects. Here’s how to make them more just – https://theconversation.com/eu-efforts-to-measure-companies-environmental-impacts-have-global-effects-heres-how-to-make-them-more-just-261226

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Immigrants in Europe and North America earn 18% less than natives – here’s why

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Are Skeie Hermansen, Professor of Sociology, University of Oslo

    F Armstrong Photography/Shutterstock

    As many countries grapple with ageing populations, falling birthrates, labour shortages and fiscal pressures, the ability to successfully integrate immigrants is becoming an increasingly pressing matter.

    However, our new study found that salaries of immigrants in Europe and North America are nearly 18% lower than those of natives, as foreign-born workers struggle to access higher-paying jobs. To reach this conclusion, we analysed the salaries of 13.5 million people in nine immigrant-receiving countries: Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United States. Data was taken from the period of 2016 to 2019.

    Immigrants in these countries earned less primarily because they were unable to access higher-paying jobs. Three-quarters of the migrant pay gap was the result of a lack of access to well-paid jobs, while only one-quarter of the gap was attributed to pay differences between migrant and native-born workers in the same job.

    Spain has the largest gap, while Sweden’s is the smallest.
    Author’s own elaboration

    The high-income countries we examined in Europe and North America all face similar demographic challenges, with low fertility rates resulting in an ageing population and labour shortages. Pro-natalist policies are unlikely to change this demographic destiny, but sound immigration policies can help.

    Across these countries with vastly different labour market institutions and immigrant populations, a common theme emerged: countries are not making good use of immigrants’ human capital.

    Stark regional differences

    We found that immigrants earn 17.9% less than natives on average, although the pay gap varied widely by country. In Spain, a relatively recent large-scale receiver of immigrants, the pay gap was over 29%. In Sweden – a country where many employed immigrants find work in the public sector – it was just 7%. These results don’t include immigrants who are unemployed or in the informal economy.

    Where immigrants were born also mattered. The highest average overall pay gaps were for immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa (26.1%) and the Middle East and North Africa (23.7%). For immigrants from Europe, North America and other Western countries, the difference in average pay compared to natives was a much more modest 9%.

    Migrant pay gaps according to region of origin. The minus sign (−) before figures indicates that immigrants earn less than natives. Note that data for second-generation immigrants is unavailable in France, Spain and the US.
    Author’s own elaboration

    Our results suggest that the children of immigrants faced substantially better earning prospects than their parents. For the countries where second-generation data was available – Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden – the gap narrowed over time, and the children of immigrants had a substantially smaller earnings gap, earning an average of 5.7% less than workers with native-born parents.

    The struggle to access higher-paying jobs

    Beyond quantifying the gap, we wanted to understand the roots of pay disparities. To create better policies, it is important to know whether immigrants are paid less than natives when they’re doing the same job in the same company, or whether these differences arise because immigrants typically work in lower-paying jobs.

    By a wide margin, we found that immigrants end up working in lower-paying industries, occupations and companies; three-quarters of the gap was due to this type of labour-market sorting. The pay gap for the same work in the same company was just 4.6% on average across the nine countries.

    These differences represent a failure of immigration policy to incorporate immigrants, as immigrants are relegated to jobs where they cannot contribute to their full potential. Our analyses rule out that the lack of access to higher-paying jobs simply reflects a difference in skill between immigrants and native-born workers. We also found that the size of the pay gap and the key role of unequal access to well-paid jobs is similar for immigrants with and without a university education.

    This means that the immigrant-native pay gap in large part represents a market inefficiency and policy failure, with significant social consequences for both immigrants and immigrant-receiving countries.



    Leer más:
    What Britons and Europeans really think about immigration – new analysis

    Policy implications

    Although equal pay for equal work policies may seem like a viable solution, they won’t close the immigrant pay gap. This is because they only help those who have already secured work, but immigrants face barriers to employment that begin long before even applying for a job. This includes convoluted processes to validate university degrees or other qualifications, and exclusion from professional networks.

    The policy focus should therefore be on improving access to better jobs.

    To make this happen, governments should invest in programmes such as language training, education and vocational skills for immigrants. They should ensure immigrants have early access to employment information, networks, job-search assistance and employer referrals. They should implement standardised and transparent recognition of foreign degrees and credentials, helping immigrants to access jobs matching their skills and training.

    This is particularly important for Europe as it races to attract – and retain – skilled immigrants who may be having second thoughts about the US in the Trump era. In the European Union, around 40% of university-educated non-EU immigrants are employed in jobs that do not require a degree, an underutilisation of skills known as brain waste.

    Some countries are already taking steps to remedy this. Germany’s Skilled Immigration Act – which took effect in 2024 – allows foreign graduates to work while their degrees are being formally recognised. In 2025, France reformed its Passeport Talent permit to attract skilled professionals and address labour shortages, especially in healthcare.

    These kinds of policies help ensure that foreign-born workers can contribute at their full capacity, and that countries can reap the full benefits of immigration in terms of productivity gains, higher tax revenue and reduced inequality.

    If immigrants can’t get access to good jobs, their skills are underutilised and society loses out. Smart immigration policy doesn’t end at the border – it starts there.

    Are Skeie Hermansen has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s
    Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 851149), the Research Council of Norway (grant 287016), and the Center for Advanced Study at The Norwegian Academy of Science
    and Letters (Young CAS grant 2019/2020).

    Marta M. Elvira receives funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant PID2020-
    118807RB-I00/AEI /10.13039/501100011033

    Andrew Penner no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.

    – ref. Immigrants in Europe and North America earn 18% less than natives – here’s why – https://theconversation.com/immigrants-in-europe-and-north-america-earn-18-less-than-natives-heres-why-261188

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Chimamanda’s Lagos homecoming wasn’t just a book launch, it was a cultural moment

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Assistant Professor, Harvard University

    When the announcement of Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi’s latest novel Dream Count was made, it was regarded as a major event in African literature. The internationally celebrated Nigerian writer had not published a novel in the past 12 years, and her long-awaited return stirred both anticipation and speculation. In the post-COVID context in which the book comes, so much has changed in the world.

    The first leg of her three city homecoming book tour coincided with my stay in Lagos as a curatorial fellow at Guest Artist Space Foundation, dedicated to facilitating cultural exchange and supporting creative practices. After Lagos, Chimamanda took the tour to Nigeria’s capital city Abuja and finally Enugu, where she was born and grew up.



    Read more:
    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s new book Dream Count explores love in all its complicated messiness

    As a scholar of African literature, I arrived here in search of literary Lagos. But my attachment to the city may also just be romantic, a nostalgia born out of years of reading about it in fiction. No doubt, Lagos is a city of imagination and creativity.

    Chimamanda’s book event was a reminder that literary celebrity, when it happens in Africa, can exist on its own terms. It’s rooted in a popular imaginary that embraces both the writer and the spectacle.

    Lagos superstar

    The launch in Lagos took place at a conference centre on the evening of Friday 27 June. The MUSON is a multipurpose civic auditorium located in the centre of Lagos Island which can accommodate up to 1,000 guests. And on this night, the auditorium was packed.

    When I arrive, the scene outside is buzzing. A crowd gathers in front of a large canvas banner bearing a radiant image of the author. It’s more than just decoration; it’s a backdrop. It is an occasion for the selfie, a digital marker that you were there. There is even a hashtag for this: #dreamcountlagos. People take turns posing in front of it, curating their presence in the frame of Chimamanda’s aura.

    The atmosphere is festive, electric. And yet beneath the surface shimmer is something more urgent: a hunger for story, for presence, for return. Perhaps that explains why people come not just to witness, but to be counted.

    Inside the lobby, piles of Chimamanda’s books are neatly arranged on long tables. People are not just buying a copy. They are buying several in the hope that the author will autograph them. The sight is striking, almost surreal. In many parts of the continent, a book launch is often a quiet affair. Writers are lucky to sell a handful of copies. But this is something else entirely. This is not just a book launch, it is a cultural moment.

    It would have been easy to mistake the event for a political townhall. There was a VIP section reserved for the who’s who of Lagos, but those class distinctions easily dissolved into the collective energy of the room. The auditorium was filled with genuine enthusiasm.

    Even after a delay of more than an hour, when Chimamanda finally walked in, she was met with rapturous applause. She wore a bright yellow dress, an Instagrammable outfit, suited for the many fans who rushed forward to take selfies with her. Chimamanda, no doubt, is as much a fashion icon as she is a literary figure.

    On stage, she was joined by media personality Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, widely known as the host of the reality TV show Big Brother Africa. But here, he was also something more intimate: the author’s friend. Chimamanda even credited him with being a “great reader”. This is a rare compliment in a literary world that often separates celebrity from critical engagement.

    Their conversation was relaxed and full of laughter, offering the audience both intimacy and insight. Chimamanda addressed the question that had lingered for years: her decade-long silence. She spoke candidly of writer’s block, of the grief that came with losing both her parents in quick succession, and how that loss eventually reignited her desire to write.

    Dream Count, she explained, is shaped by that rupture. It is one of the major post-COVID novels from Africa, and centres on the lives of four women. It is a book about love, friendship and independence.

    Africans do read

    When she spoke about her characters on stage, it was as though she was talking about relatives that the audience recognised. They responded by shouting out the characters’ names, to the delight of the author.

    When I asked people about the launch afterwards, many said that it was a very Nigerian event – big, colourful, exuberant, festive. It was indeed a celebration that felt communal, even joyous. It was also a public demonstration of how literature can still command space and attention, not just in private reading rooms or crammed bookstores, but on a civic scale.



    Read more:
    Lagos fashion: how designers make global trends uniquely Nigerian

    This was a remarkable event because it defied the tired cliché that Africans do not read. People, mostly young, came out in their hundreds. They bought books, they took selfies with their “favourite” author, they screamed the names of fictional characters as though greeting friends.

    But more significant was Chimamanda’s choice to work with a local publisher, Narrative Landscape Press, which produced the Nigerian edition of Dream Count that is now available and accessible locally, at the same time as its release in Europe and North America. That alone is a radical act.

    In returning to Nigeria to launch her book, Chimamanda also disrupts the assumption that African literary prestige must only be validated abroad. Even though she belongs to a cohort of African writers shaped by the diaspora, she actively insists on presence – on homecoming – not as simply nostalgia, but as active engagement.

    Of course, Chimamanda is an exception. Her stature as a global literary figure, combined with her deep connection to home, allows her to move between worlds with remarkable ease. Few writers command the kind of multigenerational, cross-class attention she does. I found myself wishing though that more book launches could carry this same sense of occasion, of meaning, of return. That they could gather people in such numbers, not just to celebrate the writer, but to affirm the African book as something still worth gathering for.

    And perhaps that is what made this book launch unforgettable: not just the celebrity or the spectacle, but the sense that literature still matters here, and that it belongs to the people.

    Tinashe Mushakavanhu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Chimamanda’s Lagos homecoming wasn’t just a book launch, it was a cultural moment – https://theconversation.com/chimamandas-lagos-homecoming-wasnt-just-a-book-launch-it-was-a-cultural-moment-261112

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Connie Francis was the voice of a generation and the soundtrack of post-war America

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Leigh Carriage, Senior Lecturer in Music, Southern Cross University

    Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    Connie Francis dominated the music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s with hits like Stupid Cupid, Pretty Little Baby and Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You.

    The pop star, author and actor has died at 87, and will be remembered for recording the soundtrack songs of post-World War II America.

    Francis photographed around 1963.
    Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

    An early life of music

    Francis was born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero in Newark, New Jersey, to Italian immigrant parents. At a very early age, Francis was encouraged to take accordion and singing lessons, compete in talent shows, and later she would perform occasionally on the children’s production Star Time Kids on NBC, remaining there until she was 17.

    Within these early recordings you can hear her style begin to develop: her tone, great pitching, her versatility in vocal range. Her vocal delivery is technically controlled and stylistically structured, often nuanced – and even at this early stage demonstrating such power coupled with an adaptability for a broad range of repertoire.

    At 17, Francis signed a contract with MGM Records.

    One of her early recordings was the song Who’s Sorry Now?, written by Ted Snyder with lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby in 1923. Her version was released in 1957 and struggled to get noticed.

    The following year, Francis appeared with the ballad on American Bandstand. This performance exposed Francis’ talent for interpretation and her ability to bridge the teen and adult fanbase.

    The song would become a hit.

    It’s useful to listen to the original version to gain more insight into Francis’ vocal approach and styling. The original is an instrumental song of its time, with light whimsical call and response motives in a foxtrot feel.

    But in Francis’ version, she demonstrates her ability to revitalise a late 1950s pop music aesthetic. In an emotional delivery she croons her own rendition, with the country styling elements of Patsy Cline.

    Connie Francis performing in Milan in 1961.
    Universal Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    The voice of a generation

    Following Who’s Sorry Now?, Stupid Cupid (1958), Where The Boys Are (1960, the titular song of a feature film starring Francis) and Lipstick on Your Collar (1959) became the soundtrack songs of post-war America.

    Francis was supported with songs penned by the some of the best songwriters from the Brill Building, a creative collective in Manhattan that housed professional songwriters, working with staff writers Edna Lewis and George Goehring.

    In 1960, Francis released her hit Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool written by Jack Keller and Howard Greenfield. It was a teeny-bopper classic, and she became the first women to top the Billboard Hot 100.

    Francis records in the studio with Freddy Quinn at MGM in 1963 in New York.
    PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

    Styled after some of the other greats of the time – such as Frank Sinatra (1915–98), Dean Martin (1917–95) and Louis Prima (1910–70) – Francis’ performance on the Ed Sullivan show highlighted her connection to her Italian heritage and ability to draw from a broad repertoire.

    On the show, she performed Mama and La Paloma. Each performance is very carefully styled, a thoughtful approach to dynamics, sung in both English and Italian.

    Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You, a number one hit from 1962, features Francis’ gorgeous crooning harmonies. Then, the song breaks down into an earnest spoken part and finishes with a powerful belted vocal part of long notes.

    The song is full of confidence and hope.

    Away from the microphone

    Francis had two key roles in films, starring in Where the Boys Are (1960) and the comedy Follow the Boys (1963).

    She was an author of two books. The second, Who’s Sorry Now?, became a New York Times bestseller.

    Francis was involved with humanitarian causes. She was particularly involved with Women Against Rape, following her own violent rape in 1974, and the Valour Victims Assistance Legal Organisation, dedicated to supporting the legal rights of crime victims. A lesser known song in her repertoire, fitting to include here, is her version of Born Free from 1968.

    As a singer, Francis worked at her craft and transitioned effortlessly from one genre to another, performing for over five decades. She will be remembered as a trailblazing solo artist, leaving a strong legacy in popular music culture.

    She was the voice of one generation when she was a star. And in her final year she became the voice of a new generation as Pretty Little Baby, released in 1962, went viral on TikTok, with more than 1.4 million videos using her voice to share stories of their lives.

    Francis performs in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 2009.
    Bobby Bank/WireImage

    Leigh Carriage does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Connie Francis was the voice of a generation and the soundtrack of post-war America – https://theconversation.com/connie-francis-was-the-voice-of-a-generation-and-the-soundtrack-of-post-war-america-261467

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Why did the government hide a data leak about Afghans working with British forces and why did the courts finally reveal it?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Alexandros Antoniou, Senior Lecturer in Media Law, University of Essex

    William Barton/Shutterstock

    When thousands of Afghans were quietly flown to the UK under a secret relocation scheme, few knew it was triggered by an error. A defence official had accidentally leaked the personal data of nearly 19,000 Afghan nationals who had worked with British forces and were at risk of Taliban reprisals.

    It has now also been revealed that the leaked list contained the identities of UK special forces and spies.

    Even fewer knew that this misstep was being kept from the public by a rare and powerful legal device: a superinjunction. Now, after nearly two years of legal wrangling, the High Court has lifted that order, reopening the conversation about when secrecy in the justice system goes too far.

    What is a superinjunction?

    An injunction is a court order that stops someone from doing something (like publishing a story) or requires them to do something (like taking down an online post or handing back confidential documents).

    A superinjunction goes one step further and does two things: it bans the publication of certain information (usually to protect privacy, safety or national security) and also bans anyone from revealing that the court order even exists.

    In essence, it is a tool that provides legal invisibility: the story is hidden and so is the fact that it is being hidden. While an injunction works like a padlock on a filing cabinet, a superinjunction means you cannot even tell anyone the cabinet is even there.

    Superinjunctions are exceptionally rare and controversial, precisely because they run counter to the principle of open justice. This is the idea that courts must operate in public, and that their decisions can be seen, scrutinised and questioned. Any derogation from open justice must be continuously justified and treated with considerable caution, especially where media freedom is curtailed.

    Want more politics coverage from academic experts? Every week, we bring you informed analysis of developments in government and fact check the claims being made.

    Sign up for our weekly politics newsletter, delivered every Friday.

    Historically, superinjunctions have been used sparingly in cases involving blackmail, risks of violence against witnesses, the protection of children or to prevent tipping-off a subject before an order can be served (such as in fraud investigations), always with the aim of preventing harm or ensuring that justice is done.

    The superinjunction committee (which was established in 2010 by Lord Neuberger to review growing concerns about such orders) made clear that the use of these legal tools must meet strict tests of necessity and proportionality. And, that they are only granted where serious harm (for example to life, safety or the administration of justice) is credibly at stake.

    Why was a superinjunction granted in the Afghan data breach case?

    In this case, the government argued that revealing the data leak could put lives in danger. The leaked spreadsheet contained names, contact details and, in some cases, family information of Afghan nationals who had applied to resettle in the UK. Many feared Taliban retaliation.

    So, in September 2023, the Ministry of Defence asked the High Court for an injunction to stop media outlets from reporting on the leak. The judge did not just grant that request, he escalated it to a superinjunction, banning any mention of the case or the fact of the order.

    It was described at the time as “unprecedented” in its scope. Journalists, even those who had already discovered the breach, were effectively gagged. The public had no idea any of it was happening.

    Why did the court later decide to lift the secrecy?

    After multiple hearings and appeals, High Court judge Mr Justice Chamberlain ruled on July 15 2025 that the superinjunction should be discharged once and for all. A government-commissioned review found that the leak may not have spread as widely as initially feared, and that Taliban reprisals were unlikely to be triggered solely by someone appearing on the leaked list.

    The judge concluded that while the leak was deeply serious, continued secrecy was no longer necessary, and that the harm of suppressing public debate and scrutiny now outweighed the risks of disclosure. To put it plainly, the balance tipped.

    Protection v cover-up

    Superinjunctions are not inherently wrong. There are situations where short-term secrecy is essential, for instance for the purposes of shielding vulnerable parties like children or genuinely guarding national security.

    But the Afghan case exemplifies the dangers of allowing secrecy to persist too long or too broadly. For nearly two years, the public was kept in the dark about a data breach involving tens of thousands of lives – including British citizens – and a government response that may ultimately cost the taxpayer “several billion pounds”.

    In this context, secrecy risked becoming a form of institutional self-protection, shielding the Ministry of Defence and the government from political fallout, legal scrutiny and accountability, rather than safeguarding people from actual harm.

    The principle of open justice is at the heart of democratic life. Superinjunctions, by their nature, run directly against that principle. There are times when secrecy might be seen as necessary, but it must always be tightly scoped and justified with evidence while serving the public interest; not convenience or image. By lifting this superinjunction, the courts affirmed that the British public has a right to know not only what went wrong, but that something went wrong at all.

    Alexandros Antoniou does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Why did the government hide a data leak about Afghans working with British forces and why did the courts finally reveal it? – https://theconversation.com/why-did-the-government-hide-a-data-leak-about-afghans-working-with-british-forces-and-why-did-the-courts-finally-reveal-it-261437

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Scroll, watch, burn: sunscreen misinformation and its real‑world damage

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rachael Kent, Senior Lecturer in Digital Economy & Society Education, Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London

    Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock

    On a sunny afternoon, I was scrolling through social media when I came across a video of a young woman tossing her sunscreen into a bin. “I don’t trust this stuff anymore,” she said to the camera, holding the bottle up like a piece of damning evidence.

    The clip had been viewed over half a million times, with commenters applauding her for “ditching chemicals” and recommending homemade alternatives like coconut oil and zinc powder.

    In my research on the effect of digital technology on health, I’ve seen how posts like this can shape real-world behaviour. And anecdotally, dermatologists have reported seeing more patients with severe sunburns or suspicious moles who say they stopped using sunscreen after watching similar videos.

    Sunscreen misinformation created by social media influencers is spreading and this isn’t just a random trend. It’s being fuelled by the platforms designed to host influencer content.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    In my book, The Digital Health Self, I explain how social media platforms are not neutral arenas for sharing information. They are commercial ecosystems engineered to maximise engagement and time spent online – metrics that directly drive advertising revenue.

    Content that sparks emotion – outrage, fear, inspiration – is boosted to the top of your feed. That’s why posts questioning or rejecting science often spread further than measured, evidence-based advice.

    Health misinformation thrives in this environment. A personal story about throwing out sunscreen performs well because it’s dramatic and emotionally charged. Algorithms reward such content with higher visibility: likes, shares and comments all signal popularity.

    Each second a user spends watching or reacting gives the platform more data – and more opportunities to serve targeted ads. This is how health misinformation becomes profitable.

    In my work, I describe social media platforms as “unregulated public health platforms”. They influence what users see and believe about health, but unlike public health institutions, they’re not bound by standards for accuracy or harm reduction.

    If an influencer claims sunscreen is toxic, that message won’t be factchecked or flagged – it will often be amplified. Why? Because controversy fuels engagement.



    Read more:
    Misinformation lends itself to social contagion – here’s how to recognize and combat it

    I call this environment “the credibility arena”: a space where trust is built not through expertise, but through performance and aesthetic appeal. As I write in my book: “Trust is earned not by what is known, but by how well one narrates suffering, recovery, and resilience.”

    A creator crying on camera about “toxins” can feel more authentic to viewers than a calm, clinical explanation of ultraviolet radiation from a medical expert.

    This shift has real consequences. Ultraviolet rays are invisible, constant and damaging. They penetrate cloud cover and harm skin even on cool days.

    Decades of research, especially in countries like Australia with high skin cancer rates, show that regular use of broad-spectrum sunscreen dramatically reduces risk. And yet, myths spreading online are urging people to do the opposite: to abandon sunscreen as dangerous or unnecessary.

    This trend isn’t driven solely by individual creators. It’s embedded in how content is designed, framed and presented. Algorithms prioritise short, emotionally-charged videos. Interfaces highlight trending sounds and hashtags. Recommendation systems push users toward extreme or dramatic content.

    These features all shape what we see and how we interpret it. The “For You” page isn’t neutral. It’s engineered to keep you scrolling, and shock value outperforms nuance every time.

    That’s why videos about “ditching chemicals” thrive, even as posts on other aspects of women’s health are shadowbanned or suppressed. Shadowbanning refers to when a platform limits the visibility of content – making it harder to find, without informing the user – often due to vague or inconsistently applied moderation rules.

    The system rewards spectacle, not science. Once creators discover that a particular format, like tossing products into a bin, boosts engagement, it’s replicated over and over again. Visibility isn’t organic. It’s manufactured.

    Those who throw away their sunscreen often believe they’re doing the right thing. They’re drawn to creators who feel relatable, sincere and independent — especially when official health campaigns seem cold, patronising or out of touch. But the consequences can be serious. Sun damage accumulates silently, raising skin cancer risk with every hour spent unprotected.

    Sunscreen isn’t perfect. It needs to be reapplied properly and paired with shade and protective clothing. But the evidence for its effectiveness is clear and robust.

    The real danger lies in a system that not only allows misinformation to spread, but also incentivises it. A system in which false claims can boost an influencer’s reach and a platform’s revenue.



    Read more:
    Four ways you can design social media posts to combat health misinformation

    To resist harmful health trends, we need to understand the systems that promote them. In the case of sunscreen, rejecting protection isn’t just a personal decision – it’s a symptom of a digital culture that turns health into content, and often profits from the harm it causes.

    Rachael Kent does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Scroll, watch, burn: sunscreen misinformation and its real‑world damage – https://theconversation.com/scroll-watch-burn-sunscreen-misinformation-and-its-real-world-damage-261137

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Scroll, watch, burn: sunscreen misinformation and its real‑world damage

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rachael Kent, Senior Lecturer in Digital Economy & Society Education, Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London

    Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock

    On a sunny afternoon, I was scrolling through social media when I came across a video of a young woman tossing her sunscreen into a bin. “I don’t trust this stuff anymore,” she said to the camera, holding the bottle up like a piece of damning evidence.

    The clip had been viewed over half a million times, with commenters applauding her for “ditching chemicals” and recommending homemade alternatives like coconut oil and zinc powder.

    In my research on the effect of digital technology on health, I’ve seen how posts like this can shape real-world behaviour. And anecdotally, dermatologists have reported seeing more patients with severe sunburns or suspicious moles who say they stopped using sunscreen after watching similar videos.

    Sunscreen misinformation created by social media influencers is spreading and this isn’t just a random trend. It’s being fuelled by the platforms designed to host influencer content.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    In my book, The Digital Health Self, I explain how social media platforms are not neutral arenas for sharing information. They are commercial ecosystems engineered to maximise engagement and time spent online – metrics that directly drive advertising revenue.

    Content that sparks emotion – outrage, fear, inspiration – is boosted to the top of your feed. That’s why posts questioning or rejecting science often spread further than measured, evidence-based advice.

    Health misinformation thrives in this environment. A personal story about throwing out sunscreen performs well because it’s dramatic and emotionally charged. Algorithms reward such content with higher visibility: likes, shares and comments all signal popularity.

    Each second a user spends watching or reacting gives the platform more data – and more opportunities to serve targeted ads. This is how health misinformation becomes profitable.

    In my work, I describe social media platforms as “unregulated public health platforms”. They influence what users see and believe about health, but unlike public health institutions, they’re not bound by standards for accuracy or harm reduction.

    If an influencer claims sunscreen is toxic, that message won’t be factchecked or flagged – it will often be amplified. Why? Because controversy fuels engagement.



    Read more:
    Misinformation lends itself to social contagion – here’s how to recognize and combat it

    I call this environment “the credibility arena”: a space where trust is built not through expertise, but through performance and aesthetic appeal. As I write in my book: “Trust is earned not by what is known, but by how well one narrates suffering, recovery, and resilience.”

    A creator crying on camera about “toxins” can feel more authentic to viewers than a calm, clinical explanation of ultraviolet radiation from a medical expert.

    This shift has real consequences. Ultraviolet rays are invisible, constant and damaging. They penetrate cloud cover and harm skin even on cool days.

    Decades of research, especially in countries like Australia with high skin cancer rates, show that regular use of broad-spectrum sunscreen dramatically reduces risk. And yet, myths spreading online are urging people to do the opposite: to abandon sunscreen as dangerous or unnecessary.

    This trend isn’t driven solely by individual creators. It’s embedded in how content is designed, framed and presented. Algorithms prioritise short, emotionally-charged videos. Interfaces highlight trending sounds and hashtags. Recommendation systems push users toward extreme or dramatic content.

    These features all shape what we see and how we interpret it. The “For You” page isn’t neutral. It’s engineered to keep you scrolling, and shock value outperforms nuance every time.

    That’s why videos about “ditching chemicals” thrive, even as posts on other aspects of women’s health are shadowbanned or suppressed. Shadowbanning refers to when a platform limits the visibility of content – making it harder to find, without informing the user – often due to vague or inconsistently applied moderation rules.

    The system rewards spectacle, not science. Once creators discover that a particular format, like tossing products into a bin, boosts engagement, it’s replicated over and over again. Visibility isn’t organic. It’s manufactured.

    Those who throw away their sunscreen often believe they’re doing the right thing. They’re drawn to creators who feel relatable, sincere and independent — especially when official health campaigns seem cold, patronising or out of touch. But the consequences can be serious. Sun damage accumulates silently, raising skin cancer risk with every hour spent unprotected.

    Sunscreen isn’t perfect. It needs to be reapplied properly and paired with shade and protective clothing. But the evidence for its effectiveness is clear and robust.

    The real danger lies in a system that not only allows misinformation to spread, but also incentivises it. A system in which false claims can boost an influencer’s reach and a platform’s revenue.



    Read more:
    Four ways you can design social media posts to combat health misinformation

    To resist harmful health trends, we need to understand the systems that promote them. In the case of sunscreen, rejecting protection isn’t just a personal decision – it’s a symptom of a digital culture that turns health into content, and often profits from the harm it causes.

    Rachael Kent does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Scroll, watch, burn: sunscreen misinformation and its real‑world damage – https://theconversation.com/scroll-watch-burn-sunscreen-misinformation-and-its-real-world-damage-261137

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-Evening Report: From ‘Stone Age’ treasury boss to National Party Senator: John Stone 1929-2025

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Head, Canberra School of Government, University of Canberra

    AUSPIC

    John Owen Stone AO was a legendary leader of the Commonwealth Treasury. He was secretary (departmental head) from January 1979 to September 1984 but was an intellectual driving force before then as deputy secretary from 1971 to 1978.

    Over those years he dealt with eight treasurers: Billy Snedden, Gough Whitlam, Frank Crean, Jim Cairns, Bill Hayden, Phillip Lynch, John Howard and Paul Keating.

    It is a sign of his influence that those years were dubbed the “Stone Age” by South Australian Premier Don Dunstan and others.

    Former Defence Department heads Arthur Tange and Tony Ayers were at various times called the “last of the mandarins” but Stone is probably truly the last.

    In 1978 journalist Paul Kelly called Stone “one of the two men who ran the nation”, the other being then prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

    It is hard to think of any later public servant about whom that could be said.

    Stone’s entry in the Senate’s biographical dictionary captures him well:

    he could be charming, witty and flattering, but he is often decried as being obstinate and arrogant.

    A Reserve Bank official is said to have said “I wish I was as certain about one thing as John Stone is about everything.”

    This obduracy cemented the Treasury’s reputation for arrogance and weakened its influence.

    Early years – from physics to economics

    John was born in 1929, the elder of two sons of a farmer and a primary school teacher. His childhood was spent in the Western Australian wheat belt. But after his parents divorced when he was 12, he moved with his mother to Perth.

    He attended Perth Modern School where contemporaries included Bob Hawke, Rolf Harris and Maxwell Newton.

    He graduated with first-class honours from the University of Western Australia in 1950, majoring in mathematical physics, and served as president of the students’ association.

    While there he met Billy Snedden, who two decades later would be Prime Minister William McMahon’s treasurer and with whom Stone would work as treasury deputy secretary.

    In 1951 he won a Rhodes scholarship. He initially enrolled for a physics degree at Oxford, but switched to economics, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

    He joined Australia’s Treasury, initially in its London office, in 1954. The same year he married Nancy Hardwick, a biochemical researcher, and they would have five children.

    The mandarin who put Treasury first

    Stone was an admirer of fellow Rhodes scholar Sir Roland Wilson, the longest-serving Treasury secretary with doctorates from Oxford and Chicago.

    Along with Wilson, Stone was a strong critic of the 1965 report of the Committee of Economic Inquiry known as the Vernon Report which called for greater planning and an independent economic advisory committee whose advice would have rivalled Treasury’s and succeeded in having Prime Minister Menzies reject it.

    In the late 1960s as treasury’s representative he was an executive director at the International Monetary Fund and defied his treasurer William McMahon by voting against the introduction of Special Drawing Rights that gave members rights over other members’ reserves.

    Stone believed that was why he was passed over for the secretary’s position when Frederick Wheeler was appointed in 1971.

    At treasury in the 1970s, Stone publicly clashed with members of a global environmental group called the Club of Rome about whether there were environmental limits to economic growth.

    During a public meeting in Canberra in 1973, he argued the world would not run out of the resources it needed because price rises would create incentives to use them more efficiently and develop substitutes.

    These ideas permeated the treasury’s second economic research paper called Economic Growth – is it Worth Having? which he heavily influenced.

    Stone claimed to have personally drafted the words in Treasurer Bill Hayden’s 1975 budget statement that said Australia was

    no longer operating in that simple Keynesian world in which some reduction in unemployment could, apparently, always be purchased at the cost of some more inflation.

    Stone was the driving force behind the subsequent Fraser government’s mantra of “fight inflation first”.

    As a senior Treasury officer, Stone was often openly contemptuous of politicians. He would share these views with journalists at the bar of the Hotel Canberra and in later years at the bar of the National Press Club.

    He was particularly critical when politicians had the temerity to take advice from what he termed “meretricious players” from outside the treasury.

    This attitude led Stone to oppose even the sort of free-market measures he might be expected to like when they were advocated by someone else.

    He unsuccessfully opposed the Whitlam government’s cuts to tariffs in 1973 and some of the recommendations of the Campbell Committee of Inquiry into Australia’s financial system in 1981.

    Fraser is said to have said Stone “believes in the deregulation of everything he does not regulate”.

    Stone also opposed the Hawke government’s decision to float the dollar in 1983.

    He argued the timing was wrong and that the dollar would appreciate, weakening the economy. After rising for a short time, the dollar actually depreciated and the economy performed strongly.

    Ludicrously, Stone denied having ever opposed it.

    Many in the Labor Party had wanted Stone sacked when it came to power in 1983, but Keating kept him on, partly to reassure financial markets. As Keating’s confidence in his own judgement grew, Stone’s influence waned.

    Stone announced his resignation just before the August 1984 budget and made a scathing attack on many of the government’s policies in his 1984 Shann Memorial Lecture at the University of Western Australia.



    Read more:
    Happy birthday AUD: how our Australian dollar was floated, 40 years ago this week

    Politics post-treasury

    Stone isn’t the only treasury official to have gone into politics. Leslie Bury even became treasurer. Jim Short and Arthur Sinodinos became assistant treasurers.

    But Stone was the only former head of the treasury to enter politics. He served as a National Party Senator for Queensland from 1987 to 1990, having been part of the Joh for Canberra campaign which had as its organising principle the anointing of Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen as prime minister.

    He was the Senate running mate to Sir Joh’s wife Flo Bjelke-Petersen.

    Stone was twice the Coalition’s finance spokesman, but he was something of a loose cannon. John Howard dropped him from the front bench for a time after he said “Asian immigration has to be slowed”.

    He apparently held ambitions to be treasurer. In 1990 he resigned from the Senate to contest a seat in the House of Representatives that would have made that easier given treasurers are traditionally members of the lower house.

    Stone failed to win it. He then reneged on an earlier promise by nominating to return to his Senate seat. Faced with uproar in the party, he withdrew and his meteoric political career was over.

    He co-founded the HR Nicholls Society, which pressed for the deregulation of industrial relations laws, and the Samuel Griffith Society which concerned itself with states’ rights.

    Stone was active in the Institute of Public Affairs and wrote frequently in Quadrant. He opposed republicanism, centralism, trade unionism, multiculturalism and climate action.

    He died aged 96 and is survived by five children.

    John Hawkins was a senior economist at the Australian Treasury where he wrote a series of biographical essays on Australian treasurers.

    Selwyn Cornish is the Reserve Bank of Australia historian and a former Australian Treasury official.

    – ref. From ‘Stone Age’ treasury boss to National Party Senator: John Stone 1929-2025 – https://theconversation.com/from-stone-age-treasury-boss-to-national-party-senator-john-stone-1929-2025-216360

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: From ‘Stone Age’ treasury boss to National Party Senator: John Stone 1929-2025

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Head, Canberra School of Government, University of Canberra

    AUSPIC

    John Owen Stone AO was a legendary leader of the Commonwealth Treasury. He was secretary (departmental head) from January 1979 to September 1984 but was an intellectual driving force before then as deputy secretary from 1971 to 1978.

    Over those years he dealt with eight treasurers: Billy Snedden, Gough Whitlam, Frank Crean, Jim Cairns, Bill Hayden, Phillip Lynch, John Howard and Paul Keating.

    It is a sign of his influence that those years were dubbed the “Stone Age” by South Australian Premier Don Dunstan and others.

    Former Defence Department heads Arthur Tange and Tony Ayers were at various times called the “last of the mandarins” but Stone is probably truly the last.

    In 1978 journalist Paul Kelly called Stone “one of the two men who ran the nation”, the other being then prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

    It is hard to think of any later public servant about whom that could be said.

    Stone’s entry in the Senate’s biographical dictionary captures him well:

    he could be charming, witty and flattering, but he is often decried as being obstinate and arrogant.

    A Reserve Bank official is said to have said “I wish I was as certain about one thing as John Stone is about everything.”

    This obduracy cemented the Treasury’s reputation for arrogance and weakened its influence.

    Early years – from physics to economics

    John was born in 1929, the elder of two sons of a farmer and a primary school teacher. His childhood was spent in the Western Australian wheat belt. But after his parents divorced when he was 12, he moved with his mother to Perth.

    He attended Perth Modern School where contemporaries included Bob Hawke, Rolf Harris and Maxwell Newton.

    He graduated with first-class honours from the University of Western Australia in 1950, majoring in mathematical physics, and served as president of the students’ association.

    While there he met Billy Snedden, who two decades later would be Prime Minister William McMahon’s treasurer and with whom Stone would work as treasury deputy secretary.

    In 1951 he won a Rhodes scholarship. He initially enrolled for a physics degree at Oxford, but switched to economics, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

    He joined Australia’s Treasury, initially in its London office, in 1954. The same year he married Nancy Hardwick, a biochemical researcher, and they would have five children.

    The mandarin who put Treasury first

    Stone was an admirer of fellow Rhodes scholar Sir Roland Wilson, the longest-serving Treasury secretary with doctorates from Oxford and Chicago.

    Along with Wilson, Stone was a strong critic of the 1965 report of the Committee of Economic Inquiry known as the Vernon Report which called for greater planning and an independent economic advisory committee whose advice would have rivalled Treasury’s and succeeded in having Prime Minister Menzies reject it.

    In the late 1960s as treasury’s representative he was an executive director at the International Monetary Fund and defied his treasurer William McMahon by voting against the introduction of Special Drawing Rights that gave members rights over other members’ reserves.

    Stone believed that was why he was passed over for the secretary’s position when Frederick Wheeler was appointed in 1971.

    At treasury in the 1970s, Stone publicly clashed with members of a global environmental group called the Club of Rome about whether there were environmental limits to economic growth.

    During a public meeting in Canberra in 1973, he argued the world would not run out of the resources it needed because price rises would create incentives to use them more efficiently and develop substitutes.

    These ideas permeated the treasury’s second economic research paper called Economic Growth – is it Worth Having? which he heavily influenced.

    Stone claimed to have personally drafted the words in Treasurer Bill Hayden’s 1975 budget statement that said Australia was

    no longer operating in that simple Keynesian world in which some reduction in unemployment could, apparently, always be purchased at the cost of some more inflation.

    Stone was the driving force behind the subsequent Fraser government’s mantra of “fight inflation first”.

    As a senior Treasury officer, Stone was often openly contemptuous of politicians. He would share these views with journalists at the bar of the Hotel Canberra and in later years at the bar of the National Press Club.

    He was particularly critical when politicians had the temerity to take advice from what he termed “meretricious players” from outside the treasury.

    This attitude led Stone to oppose even the sort of free-market measures he might be expected to like when they were advocated by someone else.

    He unsuccessfully opposed the Whitlam government’s cuts to tariffs in 1973 and some of the recommendations of the Campbell Committee of Inquiry into Australia’s financial system in 1981.

    Fraser is said to have said Stone “believes in the deregulation of everything he does not regulate”.

    Stone also opposed the Hawke government’s decision to float the dollar in 1983.

    He argued the timing was wrong and that the dollar would appreciate, weakening the economy. After rising for a short time, the dollar actually depreciated and the economy performed strongly.

    Ludicrously, Stone denied having ever opposed it.

    Many in the Labor Party had wanted Stone sacked when it came to power in 1983, but Keating kept him on, partly to reassure financial markets. As Keating’s confidence in his own judgement grew, Stone’s influence waned.

    Stone announced his resignation just before the August 1984 budget and made a scathing attack on many of the government’s policies in his 1984 Shann Memorial Lecture at the University of Western Australia.



    Read more:
    Happy birthday AUD: how our Australian dollar was floated, 40 years ago this week

    Politics post-treasury

    Stone isn’t the only treasury official to have gone into politics. Leslie Bury even became treasurer. Jim Short and Arthur Sinodinos became assistant treasurers.

    But Stone was the only former head of the treasury to enter politics. He served as a National Party Senator for Queensland from 1987 to 1990, having been part of the Joh for Canberra campaign which had as its organising principle the anointing of Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen as prime minister.

    He was the Senate running mate to Sir Joh’s wife Flo Bjelke-Petersen.

    Stone was twice the Coalition’s finance spokesman, but he was something of a loose cannon. John Howard dropped him from the front bench for a time after he said “Asian immigration has to be slowed”.

    He apparently held ambitions to be treasurer. In 1990 he resigned from the Senate to contest a seat in the House of Representatives that would have made that easier given treasurers are traditionally members of the lower house.

    Stone failed to win it. He then reneged on an earlier promise by nominating to return to his Senate seat. Faced with uproar in the party, he withdrew and his meteoric political career was over.

    He co-founded the HR Nicholls Society, which pressed for the deregulation of industrial relations laws, and the Samuel Griffith Society which concerned itself with states’ rights.

    Stone was active in the Institute of Public Affairs and wrote frequently in Quadrant. He opposed republicanism, centralism, trade unionism, multiculturalism and climate action.

    He died aged 96 and is survived by five children.

    John Hawkins was a senior economist at the Australian Treasury where he wrote a series of biographical essays on Australian treasurers.

    Selwyn Cornish is the Reserve Bank of Australia historian and a former Australian Treasury official.

    – ref. From ‘Stone Age’ treasury boss to National Party Senator: John Stone 1929-2025 – https://theconversation.com/from-stone-age-treasury-boss-to-national-party-senator-john-stone-1929-2025-216360

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Connie Francis was the voice of a generation and the soundtrack of post-war America

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leigh Carriage, Senior Lecturer in Music, Southern Cross University

    Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    Connie Francis dominated the music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s with hits like Stupid Cupid, Pretty Little Baby and Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You.

    The pop star, author and actor has died at 87, and will be remembered for recording the soundtrack songs of post-World War II America.

    Francis photographed around 1963.
    Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

    An early life of music

    Francis was born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero in Newark, New Jersey, to Italian immigrant parents. At a very early age, Francis was encouraged to take accordion and singing lessons, compete in talent shows, and later she would perform occasionally on the children’s production Star Time Kids on NBC, remaining there until she was 17.

    Within these early recordings you can hear her style begin to develop: her tone, great pitching, her versatility in vocal range. Her vocal delivery is technically controlled and stylistically structured, often nuanced – and even at this early stage demonstrating such power coupled with an adaptability for a broad range of repertoire.

    At 17, Francis signed a contract with MGM Records.

    One of her early recordings was the song Who’s Sorry Now?, written by Ted Snyder with lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby in 1923. Her version was released in 1957 and struggled to get noticed.

    The following year, Francis appeared with the ballad on American Bandstand. This performance exposed Francis’ talent for interpretation and her ability to bridge the teen and adult fanbase.

    The song would become a hit.

    It’s useful to listen to the original version to gain more insight into Francis’ vocal approach and styling. The original is an instrumental song of its time, with light whimsical call and response motives in a foxtrot feel.

    But in Francis’ version, she demonstrates her ability to revitalise a late 1950s pop music aesthetic. In an emotional delivery she croons her own rendition, with the country styling elements of Patsy Cline.

    Connie Francis performing in Milan in 1961.
    Universal Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    The voice of a generation

    Following Who’s Sorry Now?, Stupid Cupid (1958), Where The Boys Are (1960, the titular song of a feature film starring Francis) and Lipstick on Your Collar (1959) became the soundtrack songs of post-war America.

    Francis was supported with songs penned by the some of the best songwriters from the Brill Building, a creative collective in Manhattan that housed professional songwriters, working with staff writers Edna Lewis and George Goehring.

    In 1960, Francis released her hit Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool written by Jack Keller and Howard Greenfield. It was a teeny-bopper classic, and she became the first women to top the Billboard Hot 100.

    Francis records in the studio with Freddy Quinn at MGM in 1963 in New York.
    PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

    Styled after some of the other greats of the time – such as Frank Sinatra (1915–98), Dean Martin (1917–95) and Louis Prima (1910–70) – Francis’ performance on the Ed Sullivan show highlighted her connection to her Italian heritage and ability to draw from a broad repertoire.

    On the show, she performed Mama and La Paloma. Each performance is very carefully styled, a thoughtful approach to dynamics, sung in both English and Italian.

    Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You, a number one hit from 1962, features Francis’ gorgeous crooning harmonies. Then, the song breaks down into an earnest spoken part and finishes with a powerful belted vocal part of long notes.

    The song is full of confidence and hope.

    Away from the microphone

    Francis had two key roles in films, starring in Where the Boys Are (1960) and the comedy Follow the Boys (1963).

    She was an author of two books. The second, Who’s Sorry Now?, became a New York Times bestseller.

    Francis was involved with humanitarian causes. She was particularly involved with Women Against Rape, following her own violent rape in 1974, and the Valour Victims Assistance Legal Organisation, dedicated to supporting the legal rights of crime victims. A lesser known song in her repertoire, fitting to include here, is her version of Born Free from 1968.

    As a singer, Francis worked at her craft and transitioned effortlessly from one genre to another, performing for over five decades. She will be remembered as a trailblazing solo artist, leaving a strong legacy in popular music culture.

    She was the voice of one generation when she was a star. And in her final year she became the voice of a new generation as Pretty Little Baby, released in 1962, went viral on TikTok, with more than 1.4 million videos using her voice to share stories of their lives.

    Francis performs in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 2009.
    Bobby Bank/WireImage

    Leigh Carriage does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Connie Francis was the voice of a generation and the soundtrack of post-war America – https://theconversation.com/connie-francis-was-the-voice-of-a-generation-and-the-soundtrack-of-post-war-america-261467

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Mark Latham’s portrait may come off federal caucus wall

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    The Labor caucus tolerates having the odd “rat” among the photos of ALP leaders on the party room wall, but Mark Latham may have now pushed it too far.

    After the latest bizarre scandal surrounding the one-time federal Labor leader, who is an independent in the NSW upper house, there is a push to remove his image from the federal caucus gallery.

    Discussions are underway within Labor. No comment could be obtained from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who was on his way back from China. But if the caucus women want to see the Latham photo go, that’s likely to be what happens.

    Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said on Friday, “I’m sure that there are plenty of people scratching their heads about his portrait being up in the caucus room and giving consideration to whether it’s appropriate or not”.

    Latham has a long record of scandal and offensive behaviour. In the most recent episode, his former partner, Nathalie Matthews, has accused him of a “sustained pattern” of domestic abuse, in a civil court application for an apprehended violence order. Among other things, she alleged he pressured her to take part in “degrading” sex acts.

    Text messages between the two have also been published this week in which Latham sent Matthews photos of and disparaging comments about female members of the state parliament.

    Latham has denied the Matthews’ allegations of domestic abuse and basically shrugged off a barrage of criticism of his photographing female politicians in the chamber without their consent (although he has apologised to at least one of them).

    Plibersek said Latham’s behaviour would see him sacked from any other workplace.

    Latham was federal Labor leader from December 2003 to January 2005. As the new leader he was considered to have a prospect of winning the 2004 election, although in the event the Coalition increased its majority. At the end of that campaign he attracted negative publicity for an aggressive handshake with then prime minister John Howard, when they crossed paths.

    Latham was initially elected to the NSW parliament under the banner of One Nation but fell out with Pauline Hanson.

    In 2024 he lost a defamation case brought by NSW crossbencher Alex Greenwich after Latham targeted him in a homophobic post on social media. Recently Latham revealed details, under parliamentary privilege, of a confidential psychologist report regarding Greenwich.

    Plibersek said it was “extraordinary that he was elected to the New South Wales parliament in the first place with his sort of track record.

    “The voters who put him there I’m sure would be really experiencing a bit of buyer’s remorse when they look at his behaviour; the way that he is spending his time in parliament certainly is not delivering value for taxpayers’ dollars.”

    Plibersek said when Latham became opposition leader she had “a little cry after work”. Latham beat Kim Beazley for the post after the leadership of Simon Crean collapsed.

    “I didn’t see evidence of this sort of behaviour back in the day, but I always had my doubts about him as a political figure, and I think those doubts have only increased in recent decades as his behaviour has become worse and more extreme.”

    Latham was a protege of Gough Whitlam, for whom he worked as a researcher. He held Whitlam’s former seat of Werriwa.

    Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Mark Latham’s portrait may come off federal caucus wall – https://theconversation.com/mark-lathams-portrait-may-come-off-federal-caucus-wall-261093

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Trump has ‘chronic venous insufficiency’. Is it dangerous? Can it be treated?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Theresa Larkin, Associate Professor of Medical Sciences, University of Wollongong

    Anna Moneymaker/Staff/Getty

    US President Donald Trump has been diagnosed with “chronic venous insufficiency” after experiencing some mild swelling in his lower legs.

    According to a letter the White House published from the president’s doctor, the condition is common and not harmful, and the 79-year-old “remains in excellent health”.

    But what is chronic venous insufficiency? What causes it, and can it lead to other health problems? Let’s take a look.

    A disease of the veins

    Veins are the blood vessels that carry de-oxygenated blood from all parts of the body to the heart.

    Chronic venous insufficiency is a disease of the veins and mostly affects the legs.

    When someone has this condition, it becomes more difficult for the blood to flow back to the heart. In other words, blood pools in the legs, rather than travelling up easily through the legs, pelvis and abdomen to the heart.

    Blood pooling in the legs creates increased pressure in the veins in the legs and feet. This can cause swelling (called oedema), skin discolouration, varicose veins, and even skin ulcers (the skin stretches because of the increased pressure and becomes weak and can tear).

    What causes chronic venous insufficiency?

    There are several potential causes of chronic venous insufficiency, including damaged valves inside the veins in the legs.

    When we’re standing, blood has to flow back to the heart from the legs against gravity. Veins have valves inside them which ensure this one-way flow and stop blood from running back the wrong way.

    When valves in the veins – either the deeper veins or those closer to the skin’s surface – are damaged, this allows blood to flow backwards and pool in the legs.

    Damage to the inside lining of the vein wall can also cause chronic venous insufficiency. When the lining is damaged, it becomes less smooth and blood cells can stick to the wall and build up. This can block the inside of the vein and impede the return of blood to the heart. Smoking is a major cause of this, though it also happens naturally with age.

    Physical compression of a vein in the pelvis from the outside can also be a factor. Pregnancy, obesity or a tumour can push on a pelvic vein from the outside. This makes it harder for blood to flow through that vein, which causes back up of blood in the veins of the leg.

    Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) also increases the risk of chronic venous insufficiency. This is where blood clots form in the deep veins, most commonly in the legs. It can block blood flow or damage the vein wall, and increase blood pooling further down the leg.

    In a study I did with colleagues looking at people with chronic venous insufficiency, about 10% had a previous deep vein thrombosis. However, Trump’s doctor said there was no evidence of deep vein thrombosis in his case.

    Who gets it?

    The data on how many people get chronic venous insufficiency vary, but it is relatively common. In the United States, an estimated 10% to 35% of adults have the condition.

    A number of factors increase a person’s likelihood of developing chronic venous insufficiency. Smoking and having previously had a deep vein thrombosis are strongly linked to this condition. Other risk factors include older age, pregnancy, obesity, and prolonged periods of standing still.

    Is it dangerous?

    On its own, chronic venous insufficiency is not life-threatening, but it is a progressive condition. It increases the risk of other conditions which can be more serious.

    Interestingly, while deep vein thrombosis increases the risk of chronic venous insufficiency, people with chronic venous insufficiency also have a higher risk of deep vein thrombosis. This is because pooled blood doesn’t move as much, so it can start to form a clot.

    Deep vein thrombosis then increases the risk of pulmonary embolism, blood clots in the lungs, which are life threatening.

    In the legs, the most serious consequence of chronic venous insufficiency is developing a venous ulcer. Venous ulcers can be painful, are prone to infection (such as cellulitis), and have a high rate of recurring.

    Research has shown 4% of adults aged 65 and older in the US develop venous ulcers as a result of chronic venous insufficiency.

    Can it be treated?

    Whether and how chronic venous insufficiency can be treated depends somewhat on the cause.

    Initial conservative treatment usually involves elevating the legs and wearing compression stockings. Elevating the legs higher than the body means gravity will help blood flow back to the heart. Compression stockings help to push blood from the leg veins towards the heart.

    Exercise such as walking also helps because when the muscles in the legs contract, this moves more blood from the legs back to the heart. Exercise and diet changes may also be recommended to address any weight-related issues.

    In more progressive or severe cases, surgery may be needed to fix the inside of the veins, remove any underlying deep vein thrombosis, or insert a stent in the case of a vein compression.

    Overall, Trump has been diagnosed with a common condition for someone of his age, and his doctors have ruled out severe underlying disease. But this is a reminder of the importance of healthy veins and of the risk factors for venous disease.

    Theresa Larkin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Trump has ‘chronic venous insufficiency’. Is it dangerous? Can it be treated? – https://theconversation.com/trump-has-chronic-venous-insufficiency-is-it-dangerous-can-it-be-treated-261460

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Trump has ‘chronic venous insufficiency’. Is it dangerous? Can it be treated?

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Theresa Larkin, Associate Professor of Medical Sciences, University of Wollongong

    Anna Moneymaker/Staff/Getty

    US President Donald Trump has been diagnosed with “chronic venous insufficiency” after experiencing some mild swelling in his lower legs.

    According to a letter the White House published from the president’s doctor, the condition is common and not harmful, and the 79-year-old “remains in excellent health”.

    But what is chronic venous insufficiency? What causes it, and can it lead to other health problems? Let’s take a look.

    A disease of the veins

    Veins are the blood vessels that carry de-oxygenated blood from all parts of the body to the heart.

    Chronic venous insufficiency is a disease of the veins and mostly affects the legs.

    When someone has this condition, it becomes more difficult for the blood to flow back to the heart. In other words, blood pools in the legs, rather than travelling up easily through the legs, pelvis and abdomen to the heart.

    Blood pooling in the legs creates increased pressure in the veins in the legs and feet. This can cause swelling (called oedema), skin discolouration, varicose veins, and even skin ulcers (the skin stretches because of the increased pressure and becomes weak and can tear).

    What causes chronic venous insufficiency?

    There are several potential causes of chronic venous insufficiency, including damaged valves inside the veins in the legs.

    When we’re standing, blood has to flow back to the heart from the legs against gravity. Veins have valves inside them which ensure this one-way flow and stop blood from running back the wrong way.

    When valves in the veins – either the deeper veins or those closer to the skin’s surface – are damaged, this allows blood to flow backwards and pool in the legs.

    Damage to the inside lining of the vein wall can also cause chronic venous insufficiency. When the lining is damaged, it becomes less smooth and blood cells can stick to the wall and build up. This can block the inside of the vein and impede the return of blood to the heart. Smoking is a major cause of this, though it also happens naturally with age.

    Physical compression of a vein in the pelvis from the outside can also be a factor. Pregnancy, obesity or a tumour can push on a pelvic vein from the outside. This makes it harder for blood to flow through that vein, which causes back up of blood in the veins of the leg.

    Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) also increases the risk of chronic venous insufficiency. This is where blood clots form in the deep veins, most commonly in the legs. It can block blood flow or damage the vein wall, and increase blood pooling further down the leg.

    In a study I did with colleagues looking at people with chronic venous insufficiency, about 10% had a previous deep vein thrombosis. However, Trump’s doctor said there was no evidence of deep vein thrombosis in his case.

    Who gets it?

    The data on how many people get chronic venous insufficiency vary, but it is relatively common. In the United States, an estimated 10% to 35% of adults have the condition.

    A number of factors increase a person’s likelihood of developing chronic venous insufficiency. Smoking and having previously had a deep vein thrombosis are strongly linked to this condition. Other risk factors include older age, pregnancy, obesity, and prolonged periods of standing still.

    Is it dangerous?

    On its own, chronic venous insufficiency is not life-threatening, but it is a progressive condition. It increases the risk of other conditions which can be more serious.

    Interestingly, while deep vein thrombosis increases the risk of chronic venous insufficiency, people with chronic venous insufficiency also have a higher risk of deep vein thrombosis. This is because pooled blood doesn’t move as much, so it can start to form a clot.

    Deep vein thrombosis then increases the risk of pulmonary embolism, blood clots in the lungs, which are life threatening.

    In the legs, the most serious consequence of chronic venous insufficiency is developing a venous ulcer. Venous ulcers can be painful, are prone to infection (such as cellulitis), and have a high rate of recurring.

    Research has shown 4% of adults aged 65 and older in the US develop venous ulcers as a result of chronic venous insufficiency.

    Can it be treated?

    Whether and how chronic venous insufficiency can be treated depends somewhat on the cause.

    Initial conservative treatment usually involves elevating the legs and wearing compression stockings. Elevating the legs higher than the body means gravity will help blood flow back to the heart. Compression stockings help to push blood from the leg veins towards the heart.

    Exercise such as walking also helps because when the muscles in the legs contract, this moves more blood from the legs back to the heart. Exercise and diet changes may also be recommended to address any weight-related issues.

    In more progressive or severe cases, surgery may be needed to fix the inside of the veins, remove any underlying deep vein thrombosis, or insert a stent in the case of a vein compression.

    Overall, Trump has been diagnosed with a common condition for someone of his age, and his doctors have ruled out severe underlying disease. But this is a reminder of the importance of healthy veins and of the risk factors for venous disease.

    Theresa Larkin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Trump has ‘chronic venous insufficiency’. Is it dangerous? Can it be treated? – https://theconversation.com/trump-has-chronic-venous-insufficiency-is-it-dangerous-can-it-be-treated-261460

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for July 18, 2025

    ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on July 18, 2025.

    WA had the highest rates of Indigenous child removal in the country. At last, the state is finally facing up to it
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenna Woods, Dean, School of Indigenous Knowledges, Murdoch University Matt Jelonek/Getty Images First Nations people please be advised this article speaks of racially discriminating moments in history, including the distress and death of First Nations people. In 1997, Australia was confronted with the landmark Bringing Them Home

    Separated men are nearly 5 times more likely to take their lives than married men
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Wilson, Research Fellow and PhD Candidate in Men’s Mental Health, The University of Melbourne Breakups hurt. Emotional and psychological distress are common when intimate relationships break down. For some people, this distress can be so overwhelming that it leads to suicidal thoughts and behaviours. This problem

    Thinking of trekking to Everest Base Camp? Don’t leave home without this expert advice
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heike Schanzel, Professor of Social Sustainability in Tourism, Auckland University of Technology Purnima Shrestha /AFP via Getty Images Tourists in Kathmandu are tempted everywhere by advertisements for trekking expeditions to Everest Base Camp. If you didn’t know better, you might think it’s just a nice hike in

    Pragmatic engagement – what Albanese’s visit reveals about China relations in a turbulent world
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Sing Yue Chan, Postdoctoral Fellow in China Studies, Australian National University The Albanese government has faced an increasingly uncertain world since its re-election in May. US President Donald Trump has cast a long shadow over the Australia–US alliance, raising fresh questions about Canberra’s long-term regional strategy.

    ‘Don’t tell me!’ Why some people love spoilers – and others will run a mile
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anjum Naweed, Professor of Human Factors, CQUniversity Australia DreamBig/Shutterstock, The Conversation This article contains spoilers! I once leapt out of a train carriage because two strangers were loudly discussing the ending of the last Harry Potter book. Okay – I didn’t leap, but I did plug my

    Keith Rankin Analysis – Letter from Westphalia, Germany; 6 June 1933
    Analysis by Keith Rankin. On Saturday I came into possession of this letter, transcript below. I will note that the recipient of the letter is someone I know a bit about; I would like to know more about his time in London, circa 1930-1932. I understand that he attended the London School of Economics. I

    Australian law is clear: criticism of Israel does not breach the Racial Discrimination Act
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bill Swannie, Senior Lecturer, Thomas More Law School, Australian Catholic University Earlier this month, the Federal Court found controversial Muslim cleric Wissam Haddad breached the Racial Discrimination Act. Justice Angus Stewart ruled a series of speeches Haddad posted online were “fundamentally racist and antisemitic [and] profoundly offensive”

    New Barbie with type 1 diabetes could help kids with the condition feel seen – and help others learn
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynne Chepulis, Associate Professor, Health Sciences, University of Waikato Mattel Inc/AP, The Conversation, CC BY Barbie has done many things since she first appeared in 1959. She’s been an astronaut, a doctor, a president and even a palaeontologist. Now, in 2025, Barbie is something else: a woman

    Rising seas threaten to swallow one of NZ’s oldest settlement sites – new research
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter N. Meihana, Senior Lecturer in History, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University Veronika Meduna, CC BY-SA One of Aotearoa New Zealand’s oldest settlement sites is at risk of being washed away by rising seas, according to new research. Te Pokohiwi o Kupe (Wairau Bar) near

    AI is now part of our world. Uni graduates should know how to use it responsibly
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Fitzgerald, Associate Professor and Deputy Associate Dean (Academic), Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, The University of Queensland MTStock Studio/ Getty Images Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming an everyday part of lives. Many of us use it without even realising, whether it be writing emails, finding

    Susi Newborn among activists featured in Pacific ‘nuclear free heroes’ video
    Pacific Media Watch Greenpeace pioneer and activist Susi Newborn is among the “nuclear free heroes” featured in a video tribute premiered this week in an exhibition dedicated to a nuclear-free Pacific. The week-long exhibition at Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s Ellen Melville Centre, titled “Legends of the Pacific: Stories of a Nuclear-Free Moana 1975-1995,” closes tomorrow afternoon.

    Grattan on Friday: New parliament presents traps for Albanese and Ley
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese hasn’t been in any rush to convene the new parliament, which Governor-General Sam Mostyn will open on Tuesday. It’s only mildly cynical to observe that governments of both persuasions often seem to regard having pesky members and senators

    Police protection for New Caledonian politicians following death threats
    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk New Caledonian politicians who inked their commitment to a deal with France last weekend will be offered special police protection following threats, especially made on social media networks. The group includes almost 20 members of New Caledonia’s parties — both pro-France and pro-independence — who took

    12 countries agree to confront Israel collectively over Gaza after Bogotá summit
    ANALYSIS: By Mick Hall Collective measures to confront Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people have been agreed by 12 nations after an emergency summit of the Hague Group in Bogotá, Colombia. A joint statement today announced the six measures, which it said were geared to holding Israel to account for its crimes in Palestine and

    Rainbow Warrior bombing by French secret agents remembered 40 years on
    SPECIAL REPORT: By Te Aniwaniwa Paterson of Te Ao Māori News Forty years ago today, French secret agents bombed the Greenpeace campaign flagship  Rainbow Warrior in an attempt to stop the environmental organisation’s protest against nuclear testing at Moruroa Atoll in Mā’ohi Nui. People gathered on board Rainbow Warrior III to remember photographer Fernando Pereira,

    Why a surprise jump in unemployment isn’t as bad as it sounds
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeff Borland, Professor of Economics, The University of Melbourne New figures show Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 4.3% – its highest level since late 2021 – in June this year, up from 4.1% in May. While this is bad news, it’s not as bad

    Australia got off on a technicality for its climate inaction. But there are plenty more judgement days to come
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wesley Morgan, Research Associate, Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney This week, the Federal Court found the Australian government has no legal duty to protect Torres Strait Islanders from climate change. The ruling was disappointing, but it’s not the end of the matter. The plaintiffs,

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Separated men are nearly 5 times more likely to take their lives than married men

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Wilson, Research Fellow and PhD Candidate in Men’s Mental Health, The University of Melbourne

    Breakups hurt. Emotional and psychological distress are common when intimate relationships break down. For some people, this distress can be so overwhelming that it leads to suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

    This problem seems especially the case for men. Intimate partner problems including breakups, separation and divorce feature in the paths to suicide among one in three Australian men aged 25 to 44 who end their lives.

    Men account for three in every four suicides in many nations worldwide, including Australia. So improving our understanding of links between relationship breakdown and men’s suicide risk has life-saving potential.

    Our research, published today, is the first large-scale review of the evidence to focus on understanding men’s risk of suicide after a breakup. We found separated men were nearly five times more likely to die by suicide compared to married men.

    What did we find?

    We brought together findings from 75 studies across 30 countries worldwide, involving more than 106 million men.

    We focused on understanding why relationship breakdown can lead to suicide in men, and which men are most at risk. We might not be able to prevent breakups from happening, but we can promote healthy adjustment to the stress of relationship breakdown to try and prevent suicide.

    Overall, we found divorced men were 2.8 times more likely to take their lives than married men.

    For separated men, the risk was much higher. We found that separated men were 4.8 times more likely to die by suicide than married men.

    Most strikingly, we found separated men under 35 years of age had nearly nine times greater odds of suicide than married men of the same age.

    The short-term period after relationship breakdown therefore appears particularly risky for men’s mental health.

    What are these men feeling?

    Some men’s difficulties regulating the intense emotional stress of relationship breakdown can play a role in their suicide risk. For some men, the emotional pain tied to separation – deep sadness, shame, guilt, anxiety and loss – can be so intense it feels never-ending.

    Many men are raised in a culture of masculinity that often encourages them to suppress or withdraw from their emotions in times of intense stress.

    Some men also experience difficulties understanding or interpreting their emotions, which can create challenges in knowing how to respond to them.

    Overall, our research found relationship breakdown may lead to suicide for some men because of the complex interaction between the individual (emotional distress) and interpersonal (changes in their social network and availability of support) impacts of a breakup.

    Many of these impacts don’t seem to feature in the paths to suicide after a breakup for women in the same way.

    Breakups also impact social networks

    As intimate relationships become more serious, we tend to spend less time investing in our friendships, especially if juggling the demands of a career and family.

    Many men, especially in heterosexual relationships, rely on their intimate partner as a primary source of social and emotional support – often at the expense of connections outside their relationship.

    This can create a risky situation if relationships break down, as it seems many men are left with little support to turn to. This rang true in our research, as men’s social disconnection and loneliness seemed to increase their suicide risk following relationship breakdown.

    We also know people can struggle to know how to support men after a breakup. Research has found some men who ask for support are told to just “get back on the horse”. Such a response invalidates men’s pain and reinforces masculine stereotypes that relationship breakdown doesn’t affect them.

    So, what can we do?

    There is no simple answer to preventing suicide following relationship breakdown, but a range of opportunities exist.

    We can intervene early, by educating young people with the skills to end relationships healthily, handle rejection and regulate the difficult emotions of a breakup.

    We can embed support groups and other opportunities for connection and peer support in relationship services that are regularly in contact with those navigating separation, to help combat loneliness.

    We can ensure mental health practitioners are equipped with the skills necessary to engage and respond effectively to men who seek help following a breakup, to help keep them safe until they can get back on their feet.

    Most importantly, if men come to any of us seeking support after a breakup, we can remember that time is often a great healer. The best we can do is sit with men in their pain, rather than try and get them to stop feeling it. This connection could be life-saving.

    Support and information is available at Relationships Australia and MensLine Australia. If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

    Michael Wilson works for The University of Melbourne and consults to Movember. He receives funding from the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship, provided by the Australian Commonwealth Government and the University of Melbourne.

    Jacqui Macdonald receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Medical Research Future Fund and the Australian Research Council. She convenes the Australian Fatherhood Research Consortium and she is on the Movember Global Men’s Health Advisory Committee.

    Zac Seidler has been awarded an NHMRC Investigator Grant. He is also the Global Director of Research with the Movember Institute of Men’s Health. He advises government on men’s suicide, masculinities, violence prevention and social media policy.

    – ref. Separated men are nearly 5 times more likely to take their lives than married men – https://theconversation.com/separated-men-are-nearly-5-times-more-likely-to-take-their-lives-than-married-men-258196

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: WA had the highest rates of Indigenous child removal in the country. At last, the state is finally facing up to it

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenna Woods, Dean, School of Indigenous Knowledges, Murdoch University

    Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

    First Nations people please be advised this article speaks of racially discriminating moments in history, including the distress and death of First Nations people.

    In 1997, Australia was confronted with the landmark Bringing Them Home report. It chronicled the country’s long, dark history of the forced removal of First Nations children.

    The report also made recommendations on what to do next. Compensation was key among them. Every state and territory heeded that call in the years that followed, except Western Australia.

    In the decades since, many have called for the recognition of, and compensation for, First Nations people in WA forcibly removed from their families, culture and Country. In May, Premier Roger Cook answered that call, announcing a redress scheme for living survivors of the Stolen Generations.

    But the Stolen Generations aren’t just historical; they’re ongoing. Many still feel the reverberations of decades of trauma. WA will finally seek to redress some of it.

    Generations forced apart

    WA had the highest rates of forcible removal of Aboriginal children in this country. Today, more than 50% of Aboriginal people in WA are either Stolen Generations survivors or their direct descendants.

    Historian Margaret Jacobs wrote that through the 1905 Aborigines Protection Act, “Indigeneity itself became inextricably associated with neglect”.

    Aboriginal families, due solely to their Aboriginality, were regarded as inferior and their children were removed en masse to missions where traditional cultural practices were prohibited. Stolen Generations child removals continued until the 1970s.

    In the missions where Aboriginal children were placed after removal, psychological, physical and sexual abuse was widespread. The children, often removed as infants, were institutionalised and raised by religious missionaries.

    Speaking in traditional languages or engaging in cultural practices were prohibited, with the goal being to strip them of their Aboriginality so they could be fully assimilated into Western society. To minimise barriers to this, parents and families were prohibited from communicating or visiting their children.

    The human consequences of these inhumane practices have been monumental.

    The financial impact

    Attachment theory attests to the importance of early childhood experiences of love, care and safety on an individual’s future life outcomes. The theory suggests infants develop one of four main attachment styles in response to the care they receive from their parents or other carers during infancy.

    The significance of this in the context of generations of children being forcibly removed from their caregivers cannot be understated.

    In addition, the majority of Stolen Generations children survived various forms of abuse within these institutions and live with the resulting trauma of that.

    Under the 1905 act, any property or personal items owned by Aboriginal people could be confiscated at any time and money owing to Aboriginal peoples, including wages, was to be paid to the Chief Protector of Aborigines.

    This prevented Aboriginal families from securing financial stability and establishing intergenerational wealth, despite their significant labour contributions to WA’s economic development.

    A good indicator of intergenerational wealth consolidation can be found in rates of home ownership.

    Currently, 45.8% of Aboriginal people in the greater Perth area own their home, compared with 70.4% of their non-Aboriginal counterparts.

    Of those, 10.8% of Aboriginal households own their home outright, compared with 28.5% for non-Aboriginal owners.

    This makes redress not just a symbolic move, but a deeply practical one too.

    Compounding disadvantage

    Overall, these circumstances have created a “gap within the Gap”.

    This refers to the first gap, being that Aboriginal people have poorer life outcomes than their non-Aboriginal counterparts.

    The gap within that gap is that Stolen Generations survivors and their descendants have poorer life outcomes than the general Aboriginal population.

    Stolen Generations peoples and their descendants are more likely to have mental health disorders, to experience family violence, homelessness or criminal justice involvement, and to have an addiction, including substances and gambling, while also being less likely to have a support network.

    This state scheme will make individual payments to living survivors of the Stolen Generations who were forcibly removed before July 1 1972.

    It will deliver a one-off payment of $85,000 to survivors in recognition of the trauma and pain they suffered through their removal.

    Registrations for Stolen Generations members who are eligible for this scheme will open in the latter half of 2025 and payments will commence by the end of the year.

    It won’t fix everything, but it’s a welcome sign of progress.

    13YARN is a free and confidential 24/7 national crisis support line for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are feeling overwhelmed or having difficulty coping. Call 13 92 76.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. WA had the highest rates of Indigenous child removal in the country. At last, the state is finally facing up to it – https://theconversation.com/wa-had-the-highest-rates-of-indigenous-child-removal-in-the-country-at-last-the-state-is-finally-facing-up-to-it-258695

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Thinking of trekking to Everest Base Camp? Don’t leave home without this expert advice

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heike Schanzel, Professor of Social Sustainability in Tourism, Auckland University of Technology

    Purnima Shrestha /AFP via Getty Images

    Tourists in Kathmandu are tempted everywhere by advertisements for trekking expeditions to Everest Base Camp. If you didn’t know better, you might think it’s just a nice hike in the Nepalese countryside.

    Typically the lower staging post for attempts on the summit, the camp is still 5,364 metres above sea level and a destination in its own right. Travel agencies say no prior experience is required, and all equipment will be provided. Social media, too, is filled with posts enticing potential trekkers to make the iconic journey.

    But there is a real risk of creating a false sense of security. An exciting adventure can quickly turn into a struggle for survival, especially for novice mountaineers.

    Nevertheless, Sagarmatha National Park is deservedly popular for its natural beauty and the allure of the world’s highest peak, Chomolungma (Mount Everest). It is also home to the ethnically distinctive Sherpa community.

    Consequently, the routes to Everest Base Camp are among the busiest in the Himalayas, with nearly 60,000 tourists visiting the area each year. There are two distinct trekking seasons: spring (March to May) and autumn (September to October).

    High mountains require everyone to be properly prepared. Events which under normal conditions might be a minor inconvenience can be magnified in such an environment and pose a serious risk.

    Even at the start of the trek in Lukla (2,860m), one is exposed to factors that can directly or indirectly affect one’s health, especially altitude mountain sickness or unfamiliar bacteria.

    We interviewed 24 trekkers in May this year, as well as 60 residents and business owners in May 2023, to explore some of the safety issues anyone considering heading to base camp should be aware of.

    Life at high altitude

    First, it’s vital to choose goals within one’s technical and physical capabilities. While the human body can adapt to altitudes of up to 5,300m, the potential risk of altitude mountain sickness can occur at only 2,500m – lower than Lukla.

    Proper acclimatisation above 3,000m means ascending no more than 500m a day and resting every two to three days at the same altitude. The optimal (though rarely followed) approach is the “saw tooth system” of climbing during the day but descending to sleep at a lower level.

    Residents of the Khumbu region (on the Nepalese side of Everest) are familiar with the problem of tourists not acclimatising, or not paying attention to their surroundings. As one hotel owner said, pointing to a trekker setting out:

    He’s going uphill and it’s already late. It’s going to get dark and cold soon. He won’t make it to the next settlement. We have to report this to the authorities or go after him ourselves.

    Inexperienced trekkers should hire a local guide. Several we interviewed had needed medical evacuation, including a woman in her mid-20s who had to leave base camp after one night. She found her guides – not locals – online. But they never checked her vital signs during the trek:

    [The doctors] said that I had high-altitude pulmonary edema […] it was just really important to come down the elevation. And if I had tried to go higher, it probably would have been really bad.

    Health checks throughout the trek are imperative. This includes assessing the four main symptoms of altitude mountain sickness: headache, nausea, dizziness and fatigue. If they appear, the trekker shouldn’t go higher and might even need to descend.

    A Sherpa woman at the market in Namche Bazar, Nepal: respect the culture, eat local food.
    Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

    Take time to adapt

    Using a reputable local trekking agency might be more expensive, but it will help ensure safety and also familiarise the visitor with the local culture, helping avoid negative impacts on the host community.

    Too often, the primary goal of trekkers is a photo on the famous rock at base camp. Once obtained, many simply take a helicopter back to Kathmandu. As a helicopter tour agency owner said:

    They don’t want to get back on their feet. The goal, after all, has been achieved. In general, tourists used to be much better prepared. Now they know they can return by helicopter.

    Helicopter travel can be dangerous on its own, of course. But this tendency to view the trek as a one-way trip also affects host-guest relations and can irritate local communities.

    It’s also important to monitor your food and drink intake and watch for signs of food poisoning. Diarrhoea at high altitudes is particularly dangerous because it leads to rapid dehydration – hard to combat in mountain conditions.

    Low air pressure and reduced oxygen exacerbate the condition, weakening the body’s ability to recover. Also, the symptoms of dehydration can resemble altitude mountain sickness.

    When travelling in other climate zones or countries with different sanitary standards, there is inevitable contact with strains of bacteria not present in one’s natural microbiome.

    A good solution is to spend a few days naturally adapting to bacterial flora at a lower altitude in Nepal before heading to the mountains. Also, try to eat the local food, such as daal bhat, Nepal’s national dish. According to one hotel owner in Pangboche:

    Tourists demand strange food from us – pizza, spaghetti, Caesar salad – and then are angry that it doesn’t taste the way they want. This is not our food. You should probably eat local food.

    Most of the trekkers we interviewed during this spring season reported experiencing gastrointestinal issues, often for several days.

    Overall, diarrhoea-related infections are the leading cause of illness among travellers, including base camp trekkers. Studies conducted in the Himalayas show as many as 14% of mountain tourists contract gastroenteritis, accounting for about 10% of all helicopter evacuations.

    In the end, the commonest cause of failure or accident in the mountains is overestimating one’s abilities – what has been called “bad judgement syndrome” – when the route is too hard, the pace too fast, or there’s been too little time spent acclimatising.

    A simple solution: walk slowly and enjoy the views.

    Michal Apollo receives funding from the National Science Centre NCN Poland, the small-scale project awarded by the Institute of Earth Sciences, and the Research Excellence Initiative of the University of Silesia in Katowice. He is affiliated with the Global Justice Program, Yale University, and Academics Stand Against Poverty.

    Heike Schanzel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Thinking of trekking to Everest Base Camp? Don’t leave home without this expert advice – https://theconversation.com/thinking-of-trekking-to-everest-base-camp-dont-leave-home-without-this-expert-advice-260497

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Pragmatic engagement – what Albanese’s visit reveals about China relations in a turbulent world

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Sing Yue Chan, Postdoctoral Fellow in China Studies, Australian National University

    The Albanese government has faced an increasingly uncertain world since its re-election in May.

    US President Donald Trump has cast a long shadow over the Australia–US alliance, raising fresh questions about Canberra’s long-term regional strategy.

    Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s approach to foreign policy is reflecting a careful recalibration – one that seeks to balance security partnerships with the pursuit of economic opportunities, especially with Australia’s largest trading partner, China.

    Albanese has wrapped up a six-day visit to China which was characterised by a highly pragmatic approach to dealing with the problems and irritants in the bilateral relationship.

    Economic engagement

    Albanese’s visit to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu – cities emblematic of Australia’s political, economic and cultural connections with China – was more than symbolic.

    It was a high-profile diplomatic venture, with Albanese meeting both the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

    But it was more than a leaders’ summit. A large team of key business leaders in banking, manufacturing, mining and education were on the trip to meet their Chinese counterparts and seek more cooperation.

    Economic engagement dominated the visit. As Albanese highlighted before his trip, “my priority is jobs”.

    Broader partnerships spanning multiple sectors, including healthcare, education and green energy, were canvassed. The two nations also explored closer cooperation on energy transition and climate change.

    Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian has even floated a collaboration on artificial intelligence.

    However, the suggestion has been met with caution in Canberra due to ongoing concerns around national security and data governance.

    Cooperate where we can

    Beyond trade and investment, the visit also marked an effort to rebuild people-to-people exchanges.

    Since last year, Australian citizens have been able to visit China for up to 30 days without a visa. In turn, Australia will welcome more Chinese visitors under a new Memorandum of Understanding promoting Australia as a premier tourist destination for Chinese travellers.

    Albanese’s meetings with Xi Jinping and Li Qiang also yielded concrete results.

    The official joint statement emphasised economic cooperation, particularly in climate-related areas such as steel decarbonisation, dryland farming and the green economy.

    These outcomes align with the Albanese government’s guiding principle: cooperate where we can.

    The deeper economic cooperation has been noted in China, where there is an expectation collaboration will continue to accelerate on the back of improved relations.

    As James Laurenceson of the Australia–China Relations Institute recently noted, a stronger economic partnership will help foster more resilient ties across the board.

    More independent foreign policy

    Other analysts also see increased mutual benefits in the bilateral relationship.

    China-watcher James Curran suggests the visit may signal a maturing, more independent Australian foreign policy.

    The primary role of Australian statecraft is to do everything we possibly can to avoid a conflict. To avoid ever getting close to a decision about following the Americans into a war of that kind.

    This was best illustrated by Albanese’s refusal to provide Washington with a wide-ranging and largely open-ended commitment to support the US in any conflict with China over Taiwan.

    Indeed, as Curran observes, Albanese has tried to steer the relationship away from disagreement and towards pragmatic engagement.

    Following his meeting with Xi, Albanese was repeatedly asked by Australian journalists if he raised sensitive issues such as Taiwan, China’s military build-up and the South China Sea.

    While he confirmed these topics were addressed, he emphasised a preference for peaceful engagement:

    […] we want peace and security in the region. That is in the interest of both Australia and in the interest of China.

    Unsurprisingly, the joint statement made no reference to these issues, reflecting a mutual decision to sidestep confrontation in favour of stabilising the relationship.

    Quietly managing differences

    This diplomatic posture toward China would appear to be a defining feature of the Albanese government’s second term: strengthening cooperation while quietly managing differences.

    Rather than highlighting points of contention, the government is opting to avoid open disagreement where possible.

    Overt disputes risk destabilising bilateral ties. If issues are raised publicly, it is unlikely to shift entrenched positions on either side. This explains why the ownership of the Port of Darwin, for example, was not mentioned during Albanese’s meeting with Xi.

    Critics, however, argue this risks projecting weakness towards China.

    Justin Bassi, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, warns the government is staying silent in the face of ongoing Chinese coercion:

    Australia is only complying with China’s desires when the government says nothing and leaves the public to trust that the threats posed by China are all being dealt with in the classified realm. This is not viable policy. Australia’s sovereignty must not be contingent on Beijing’s preferences.

    Even within China, analysts are cautious about Albanese’s approach. As one Chinese scholar told us, “a stable relationship does not necessarily mean a friendly one”.

    In fact, while the Chinese media has stressed Australia and China’s shared commitment to regional stability, this was barely mentioned in the official joint statement.

    Mutual interests

    Still, there is recognition on both sides that pragmatism rather than ideological grandstanding is the more sustainable path forward.

    In sum, Albanese’s visit does not mark a dramatic reset or bold new direction in Australia–China relations. Rather, it signals a shift toward greater realism.

    In an increasingly complex and multipolar world, diplomacy grounded in mutual interests, rather than ideology, is not just practical, but may be a growing trend across the globe.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Pragmatic engagement – what Albanese’s visit reveals about China relations in a turbulent world – https://theconversation.com/pragmatic-engagement-what-albaneses-visit-reveals-about-china-relations-in-a-turbulent-world-260578

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Clawback of $1.1B for PBS and NPR puts rural stations at risk – and threatens a vital source of journalism

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Allison Perlman, Associate Professor of Film & Media Studies, University of California, Irvine

    Nathan Heffel and Grace Hood rehearse their Colorado Public Radio public affairs program in Centennial, Colo., in 2017. Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images

    The U.S. Senate narrowly approved on July 16, 2025, a bill that would claw back federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes money to NPR, PBS and their affiliate stations. The US$9 billion rescission package will withdraw $1.1 billion Congress had previously approved for the CPB to receive in the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. In addition, it makes deep foreign aid cuts. All Democrats present voted against the measure, joined by two Republicans: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. As long as the House, which approved a previous version, votes in favor of the Senate’s version of the bill by midnight July 18, Trump will be able to meet a budgetary deadline by signing the measure into law in time for it to take effect.

    What will happen to NPR, PBS and local stations?

    NPR and PBS provide programming to local public television and radio stations across the country. The impact on them will be direct and indirect.

    Both NPR and PBS receive money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, an independent nonprofit corporation Congress created in 1967 to receive and distribute federal money to public broadcasters. More than 70% of the money it distributes flows directly to local stations. Some stations get up to half of their budgets from the CPB.

    But NPR and PBS get much of their funding from foundation grants, viewers’ and listeners’ donations, and corporate underwriting. And local public radio and TV stations also get support from an array of sources besides CPB.

    “There’s nothing more American than PBS,” said the network’s CEO, Paula Kerger, at a congressional hearing on March 26, 2025.

    Only about 1% of NPR funding, and 15% of PBS funding, comes directly from the government via the CPB. However, once local radio and television stations lose federal funding, they’ll be less able to pay NPR and PBS for the programs they produce.

    The nearly 1,500 public media stations in the U.S. rely on a mix of NPR, PBS and third-party producer programming, such as American Public Media and PRX, for the programs they offer. Local stations also produce and air regional news and provide emergency broadcasts for the government.

    In rural areas with few broadcast stations and spotty cellphone coverage, public broadcast stations are vital sources of information about important community news and updates during emergencies. Federal support is essential for the programming and day-to-day operations of many local stations and allows for the maintenance of equipment and personnel to operate these vital community resources.

    We believe that stations in communities that most need them, especially in rural locations, would be hit especially hard because they rely heavily on CPB funding.

    Why are Republicans taking this step?

    Public broadcasting has long been a target of conservative Republicans. They say that with a highly diversified media landscape, the public no longer needs media that is subsidized by federal dollars. They also claim that public broadcasting has a liberal bias and taxpayers should not be required to fund media that slants to the left politically.

    Why is public media necessary when there’s news on the internet?

    As journalism revenue has plummeted, public broadcasting has remained a vital source for news in communities across the nation. This is especially true in rural communities, where economic and political pressures have threatened the survival of local journalism.

    In addition, with much online news coverage placed behind paywalls, public radio and television plays an important role in making quality journalism available to the American public.

    Want crucial information about water systems in your drought-prone community? Public radio station KVMR in Nevada City, Calif., has a program for you.
    KVMR screenshot

    Why did Congress approve these funds 2 years ahead?

    Public broadcasting has gotten roughly $550 million per year from the federal government in recent years. The CPB has always approved and designated those funds two years in advance, due to a provision in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, after Congress has voted to provide that money. The CPB then has distributed that funding primarily through grants to PBS and NPR affiliate stations to support their technical infrastructure, program development and audience research.

    What are the consequences for Native communities?

    Dozens of Native American stations are at risk of closing once the CPB is defunded. Native Public Media, a network of 57 radio stations and four TV stations, is a key source of news and information for tribal communities across the nation and relies on CPB support.

    U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, publicly stated that he secured an agreement with the White House to move $9.4 million in Interior Department funding to two dozen Native American stations. But there is no provision related to this promise within the legislation.

    Allison Perlman is the co-chair of the Scholars Advisory Committee of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.

    Josh Shepperd and Allison Perlman are under contract to co-author an update of the history of public broadcasting for Current, public media’s trade journal, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Josh and Allison are not paid employees or vendors of either institution.

    – ref. Clawback of $1.1B for PBS and NPR puts rural stations at risk – and threatens a vital source of journalism – https://theconversation.com/clawback-of-1-1b-for-pbs-and-npr-puts-rural-stations-at-risk-and-threatens-a-vital-source-of-journalism-255826

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ‘Don’t tell me!’ Why some people love spoilers – and others will run a mile

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anjum Naweed, Professor of Human Factors, CQUniversity Australia

    DreamBig/Shutterstock, The Conversation

    This article contains spoilers!

    I once leapt out of a train carriage because two strangers were loudly discussing the ending of the last Harry Potter book. Okay – I didn’t leap, but I did plug my ears and flee to another carriage.

    Recently, I found myself in a similar predicament, trapped on a bus, entirely at the mercy of two passengers dissecting the Severance season two finale.

    But not everyone shares my spoiler anxiety. I have friends who flip to the last page of a book before they’ve read the first one, or who look up the ending before hitting play. According to them, they simply need to know.

    So why do some of us crave surprise and suspense, while others find comfort in instant resolution?

    What’s in a spoiler?

    Spoilers have become a cultural flashpoint in the age of streaming, social media and shared fandoms.

    Researchers define “spoiler” as undesired information about how a narrative’s arc will conclude. I often hear “spoilers!” interjected mid-sentence, a desperate protest to protect narrative ignorance.

    Hitchcock’s twist-heavy Psycho elevated spoiler sensitivity. Its release came with an anti-spoilers policy including strict viewing times, lobby warnings recorded by the auteur himself, and even real policemen urging “total enjoyment”. A bold ad campaign implored audiences against “cheating yourselves”.

    The twists were fiercely protected.

    Even the Star Wars cast didn’t know Darth Vader’s paternity twist until premiere night. Avenger’s Endgame filmed multiple endings and used fake scripting to mislead its stars. And Andrew Garfield flat-out lied about his return to Spider-Man: No Way Home – a performance worthy of an Oscar – all for the sake of fan surprise and enjoyment.

    But do spoilers actually ruin the fun, or just shift how we experience it?

    The satisfaction of a good ending

    In 2014, a Dutch study found that viewers of unspoiled stories experienced greater emotional arousal and enjoyment. Spoilers may complete our “mental models” of the plot, making us less driven to engage, process events, or savour the unfolding story.

    But we are also likely to overestimate the negative effect of a spoiler on our enjoyment. In 2016, a series of studies involving short stories, mystery fiction and films found that spoiled participants still reported high levels of enjoyment – because once we’re immersed, emotional connection tends to eclipse what we already know.

    But suspense and enjoyment are complex bedfellows.

    American media psychology trailblazer Dolf Zillmann said that suspense builds tension and excitement, but we only enjoy that tension once the ending lands well.

    The thrill isn’t fun while we’re hanging in uncertainty – it’s the satisfying resolution that retroactively makes it feel good.

    That could be why we scramble for an “ending explained” when a film or show drops the ball on closure. We’re trying to resolve uncertainty and settle our emotions.

    Spoilers can also take the pressure off. A 2009 study of Lost fans found those who looked up how an episode would end actually enjoyed it more. The researchers found it reduced cognitive pressure, and gave them more room to reflect and soak in the story.

    Spoilers put the audience back in the driver’s seat – even if filmmakers would rather keep hold of the wheel. People may seek spoilers out of curiosity or impatience, but sometimes it’s a quiet rebellion: a way to push back against the control creators hold over when and how things unfold.

    That’s why spoilers are fertile ground for power dynamics. Ethicists even liken being spoiled to kind of moral trespass: how dare someone else make that decision for me?!

    But whether you avoid spoilers or seek them out, the motive is often the same: a need to feel in control.

    Shaping your emotions

    Spoiler avoiders crave affect: they want emotional transportation.

    When suspense is part of the pleasure, control means choosing when and how that knowledge lands. There’s a mental challenge to be had in riding the story as it unfolds, and a joy in seeing it click into place.

    That’s why people get protective, and even chatter about long-aired shows can spark outrage. It’s an attempt to police the commentary and preserve the experience for those still waiting to be transported.

    Spoiler seekers want control too, just a different kind. They’re not avoiding emotion, they’re just managing it. A spoiler affords control over our negative emotions, but also softens the blow, and inoculates us against anxiety.

    Psychologists dub this a “non-cognitive desensitisation strategy” to manage surprise, a kind of “emotional spoiler shield” to protect our attachments to shows and characters, and remind us that TV, film and book narratives are not real when storylines hit close to home.

    Knowing what happens turns into a subtle form of self-regulation.

    So, what did I do when Severance spoilers floated by? Did I get off the bus? Nope, I stayed put and faced the beast. As I tried to make sense of the unfamiliar plot points (The macrodata means what? Mark stays where?), I found the unexpected chance to dive deeper.

    Maybe surprise is not the sum of what makes something entertaining and worth engaging with. Spoiler alert! It’s good to have an end to journey towards, but it’s the journey that matters, in the end.

    Anjum Naweed does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. ‘Don’t tell me!’ Why some people love spoilers – and others will run a mile – https://theconversation.com/dont-tell-me-why-some-people-love-spoilers-and-others-will-run-a-mile-256803

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: AI is now part of our world. Uni graduates should know how to use it responsibly

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Fitzgerald, Associate Professor and Deputy Associate Dean (Academic), Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, The University of Queensland

    MTStock Studio/ Getty Images

    Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming an everyday part of lives. Many of us use it without even realising, whether it be writing emails, finding a new TV show or managing smart devices in our homes.

    It is also increasingly used in many professional contexts – from helping with recruitment to supporting health diagnoses and monitoring students’ progress in school.

    But apart from a handful of computing-focused and other STEM programs, most Australian university students do not receive formal tuition in how to use AI critically, ethically or responsibly.

    Here’s why this is a problem and what we can do instead.

    AI use in unis so far

    A growing number of Australian universities now allow students to use AI in certain assessments, provided the use is appropriately acknowledged.

    But this does not teach students how these tools work or what responsible use involves.

    Using AI is not as simple as typing questions into a chat function. There are widely recognised ethical issues around its use including bias and misinformation. Understanding these is essential for students to use AI responsibly in their working lives.

    So all students should graduate with a basic understanding of AI, its limitations, the role of human judgement and what responsible use looks like in their particular field.

    We need students to be aware of bias in AI systems. This includes how their own biases could shape how they use the AI (the questions they ask and how they interpret its output), alongside an understanding of the broader ethical implications of AI use.

    For example, does the data and the AI tool protect people’s privacy? Has the AI made a mistake? And if so, whose responsibility is that?

    What about AI ethics?

    The technical side of AI is covered in many STEM degrees. These degrees, along with philosophy and psychology disciplines, may also examine ethical questions around AI. But these issues are not a part of mainstream university education.

    This is a concern. When future lawyers use predictive AI to draft contracts, or business graduates use AI for hiring or marketing, they will need skills in ethical reasoning.

    Ethical issues in these scenarios could include unfair bias, like AI recommending candidates based on gender or race. It could include issues relating to a lack of transparency, such as not knowing how an AI system made a legal decision. Students need to be able to spot and question these risks before they cause harm.

    In healthcare, AI tools are already supporting diagnosis, patient triage and treatment decisions.

    As AI becomes increasingly embedded in professional life, the cost of uncritical use also scales up, from biased outcomes to real-world harm.

    For example, if a teacher relies on AI carelessly to draft a lesson plan, students might learn a version of history that is biased or just plain wrong. A lawyer who over-relies on AI could submit a flawed court document, putting their client’s case at risk.

    How can we do this?

    There are international examples we can follow. The University of Texas at Austin and University of Edinburgh both offer programs in ethics and AI. However, both of these are currently targeted at graduate students. The University of Texas program is focused on teaching STEM students about AI ethics, whereas the University of Edinburgh’s program has a broader, interdiscplinary focus.

    Implementing AI ethics in Australian universities will require thoughtful curriculum reform. That means building interdisciplinary teaching teams that combine expertise from technology, law, ethics and the social sciences. It also means thinking seriously about how we engage students with this content through core modules, graduate capabilities or even mandatory training.

    It will also require investment in academic staff development and new teaching resources that make these concepts accessible and relevant to different disciplines.

    Government support is essential. Targeted grants, clear national policy direction, and nationally shared teaching resources could accelerate the shift. Policymakers could consider positioning universities as “ethical AI hubs”. This aligns with the government-commissioned 2024 Australian University Accord report, which called for building capacity to meet the demands of the digital era.

    Today’s students are tomorrow’s decision-makers. If they don’t understand the risks of AI and its potential for error, bias or threats to privacy, we will all bear the consequences. Universities have a public responsibility to ensure graduates know how to use AI responsibly and understand why their choices matter.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. AI is now part of our world. Uni graduates should know how to use it responsibly – https://theconversation.com/ai-is-now-part-of-our-world-uni-graduates-should-know-how-to-use-it-responsibly-261273

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Rising seas threaten to swallow one of NZ’s oldest settlement sites – new research

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter N. Meihana, Senior Lecturer in History, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University

    Veronika Meduna, CC BY-SA

    One of Aotearoa New Zealand’s oldest settlement sites is at risk of being washed away by rising seas, according to new research.

    Te Pokohiwi o Kupe (Wairau Bar) near Blenheim is a nationally significant archaeological site. It dates back to the first arrival of people and holds the remains of first-generation Polynesian settlers as well as many cultural artefacts.

    The site is significant for the local iwi, Rangitāne o Wairau, because of its history of colonial exploitation and the eventual repatriation of koiwi tangata (ancestral remains) in 2009, which marks an important moment in the modern history of Rangitāne.

    Coastal flooding is already a hazard at Te Pokohiwi o Kupe, but this increases dramatically as sea level rises. The study, led by Te Rūnanga a Rangitāne o Wairau in partnership with researchers at Earth Sciences NZ, shows about 20% of the site could be inundated during a 100-year storm event under current sea levels.

    But with 50 centimetres of climate-driven sea-level rise, which could occur as soon as the 2050s under high-emissions scenarios, more than half of the site could flood in the same event. If sea levels rise to a metre, which could be reached during the early 2100s, three-quarters of the site will be inundated and subject to significant erosion.

    From grave robbers to collaborators

    During the first part of the 20th century, the site was raided by fossickers searching for curios. In 1939, they uncovered an urupa (cemetery) and disinterred the remains of one of the earliest ancestors, along with their sperm whale tooth necklace and moa egg.

    Further “discoveries” drew Roger Duff, then an ethnologist at the Canterbury Museum, to the site in 1942. He led several excavations until the summer of 1963-64.

    The Rangitāne community protested the excavations. Tribal elder Hohua Peter MacDonald was particularly vocal, but the tribe was unable to prevent the digs and the removal of ancestors and their burial goods.

    In 2003, Rangitāne presented their Treaty of Waitangi claims before the Waitangi Tribunal. The tribunal agreed the Crown had breached the treaty in its dealings with the tribe and subsequent negotiations saw land at Te Pokohiwi returned to Rangitāne. These land parcels were close to where ancestors had been taken and the remains were eventually returned in 2009.

    Prior to the repatriation, the University of Otago, Canterbury Museum and Rangitāne agreed that research, including genetic sequencing of the koiwi tangata and an archaeological survey of the site, would take place before the reburial. Due to their past experiences, Rangitāne had little trust in the scholastic community. But in a first of its kind, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the parties.

    Before the reburial of the koiwi tangata, the iwi agreed to genetic sequencing and an archaeological survey of the site.
    Veronika Meduna, CC BY-SA

    Maintaining connections

    Our study used high-resolution, local-scale analysis of sea-level rise and coastal change to assess the risk to archaeological taonga (treasures) and wāhi tapu (sacred sites) at Te Pokohiwi o Kupe.

    By combining the knowledge of Rangitāne hapū (sub-tribal groups) about the site’s boundaries and locations of ancestral or archaeological taonga with LiDAR-derived topographic data, the research team mapped its exposure to present-day and future coastal inundation from spring tides and storm-wave events.

    Sea-level scenarios were consistent with the latest projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and national guidelines to estimate the likely timing of future inundation.

    Results suggest climate-driven shoreline changes and permanent inundation will increasingly threaten this culturally and archaeologically significant site.

    While this research focused on relative and extreme sea-level inundation risks, earlier palaeo-tsunami studies show the area is also known to be exposed to tsunami hazards.

    Ongoing research supported by a Natural Hazards Commission grant seeks to expand on our findings by integrating multiple inundation types with iwi-led experiences of impacts and mitigation. The goal is to develop new inclusive approaches for quantifying the effects of compounding inundation hazards.

    The integrated place-based approach underpinning this research supports dialogue about adaptation and rescue options for protecting sacred sites threatened by climate change through a combination of locally led and nationally supported interventions.

    For Rangitāne, Te Pokohiwi o Kupe is a place where relationships are maintained, responsibilities upheld and identity reaffirmed. While its archaeological value is widely recognised, its deeper significance lies in the enduring connection Rangitāne maintain with the whenua (land) and with the stories, knowledge and obligations it carries.

    Over time, the nature of that relationship has evolved. What was once marked by protest and exclusion has shifted into a place of active management and leadership, in part supported through the return of the land as part of the iwi’s treaty settlement.

    Now, with growing threats posed by sea-level rise and coastal erosion, that connection faces a different kind of challenge. The concern is not only for what may be physically lost, but for what it might mean to lose the ability to stand in that place, to gather there and to sustain the relationship that has grounded generations of Rangitāne people in Wairau.

    The focus is not only on preserving what remains, but on ensuring the connection to Te Pokohiwi continues, even as the landscape changes. More than protecting a site, this is about protecting the ability of Rangitāne to remain in meaningful relationship with Te Pokohiwi o Kupe, its stories and its significance.

    Peter N. Meihana is a trustee of Te Runanga a Rangitāne o Wairau.

    Ongoing research is supported through the Natural Hazards Commission (Toka Tū Ake EQC Project No. 4045).

    Corey Hebberd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Rising seas threaten to swallow one of NZ’s oldest settlement sites – new research – https://theconversation.com/rising-seas-threaten-to-swallow-one-of-nzs-oldest-settlement-sites-new-research-260799

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: New Barbie with type 1 diabetes could help kids with the condition feel seen – and help others learn

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynne Chepulis, Associate Professor, Health Sciences, University of Waikato

    Mattel Inc/AP, The Conversation, CC BY

    Barbie has done many things since she first appeared in 1959. She’s been an astronaut, a doctor, a president and even a palaeontologist. Now, in 2025, Barbie is something else: a woman with type 1 diabetes.

    Mattel’s latest Barbie was recently launched by Lila Moss, a British model who lives with type 1 diabetes. The doll comes with a visible insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor, devices many people with diabetes rely on.

    To some people, this might seem like just another version of the doll. But to kids living with type 1 diabetes – especially young girls – it’s a big deal. This new Barbie is not just a toy. It’s about being seen.

    What is type 1 diabetes?

    Type 1 diabetes is a condition where the body stops making insulin, the hormone that helps control blood sugar levels.

    It’s not caused by lifestyle or diet. It’s an autoimmune condition (a disorder where the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells) and often starts in childhood.

    People with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin every day, often through multiple injections or an insulin pump. They also need to check their blood sugar regularly, using finger pricks or a continuous glucose monitor worn on the skin (usually the upper arm).

    Although type 1 diabetes can be effectively managed, there is no cure.

    Millions of people across the world live with this condition, and numbers are on the rise. In Australia, type 1 diabetes affects more than 13,000 children and teens, while in New Zealand, around 2,500 children under 18 have type 1 diabetes. Globally, 1.8 million young people are affected.

    Children with type 1 diabetes may wear a continuous glucose monitor.
    Pavel Danilyuk/Pexels

    Managing type 1 diabetes isn’t easy for children

    Young people with type 1 diabetes must think about their condition every day – at school, during sports, at sleepovers and even while playing. They may have to stop what they’re doing and check their blood sugar levels. It can feel isolating and frustrating.

    Stigma is a big issue for children and young people with type 1 diabetes. Some young people feel embarrassed using their insulin pumps or checking their blood sugar in public. One study found pre-teens with diabetes sometimes felt they received unwanted attention when using devices such as insulin pumps and glucose monitors.

    Stigma can make young people less likely to take care of their diabetes, which can create problems for their health.

    Seeing a Barbie with an insulin pump and glucose monitor could make a significant difference.

    Children form their sense of identity early, and toys play a surprisingly powerful role in that process. While children with type 1 diabetes can often feel different from their peers, toys can help normalise their experience and reduce the sense of isolation that can come with managing a chronic condition.

    Research shows toys and media such as books and TV shows reflecting children’s experiences can boost self-esteem, reduce stigma and improve emotional wellbeing.

    For girls especially, Barbie is more than a doll. She represents what is often perceived to be admired or desirable and this can influence how girls perceive their own bodies. A Barbie with a glucose monitor and insulin pump sends a clear message: this is part of real life. You’re not alone.

    That kind of visibility is empowering. It tells children their condition doesn’t define them or limit their potential. It also helps challenge outdated stereotypes about illness and disability.

    Some may worry a doll with a medical condition might make playtime too serious or scary. But in reality, play is how kids learn about the world. Toys that reflect real life – including health issues – can help children process emotions, ask questions, reduce fear and feel more in control.



    Read more:
    Whatever happened to Barbie’s feet? Podiatrists studied 2,750 dolls to find out

    A broader shift towards inclusivity and representation

    Mattel’s new Barbie shows diabetes and the devices needed to manage the condition in a positive, everyday way, and that matters. It can start conversations and help kids without diabetes learn what those devices are and why someone wears them. It builds understanding early.

    Mattel has added to its range of Barbies in recent years to showcase the beauty that everyone has. There are now Barbies with a wide range of skin tones, hair textures, body types and disabilities – including dolls with hearing aids, vitiligo (loss of skin pigmentation) and wheelchairs. The diabetes Barbie is part of this broader shift toward inclusivity and should be applauded.

    Every child should be able to find toys that reflect who they are, and the people they love.

    This Barbie won’t make diabetes go away. But she might help a child feel more seen, more confident, more like their peers. She might help a classmate understand that a glucose monitor isn’t scary – it’s just something some people need. She might make a school nurse’s job easier when explaining to teachers or students how to support a student with diabetes.

    Living with type 1 diabetes as a child is tough. Anything that helps kids feel a little more included, and a little less different, is worth celebrating. A doll might seem small. But to the right child, at the right moment, it could mean everything.

    Lynne Chepulis receives funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand

    Anna Serlachius receives funding from the Health Research Council and Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF).

    – ref. New Barbie with type 1 diabetes could help kids with the condition feel seen – and help others learn – https://theconversation.com/new-barbie-with-type-1-diabetes-could-help-kids-with-the-condition-feel-seen-and-help-others-learn-261263

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Australian law is clear: criticism of Israel does not breach the Racial Discrimination Act

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bill Swannie, Senior Lecturer, Thomas More Law School, Australian Catholic University

    Earlier this month, the Federal Court found controversial Muslim cleric Wissam Haddad breached the Racial Discrimination Act.

    Justice Angus Stewart ruled a series of speeches Haddad posted online were “fundamentally racist and antisemitic [and] profoundly offensive” towards Jewish people in Australia.

    However, the court also ruled criticism of Israel, Zionism and the Israel Defense Forces are not antisemitic and therefore do not breach the law.

    This finding could help inform the current debate on how to define antisemitism in Australia.

    Antisemitism and the law

    Haddad’s sermons were found to include “perverse generalisations” about Jewish Australians made at a time of “heightened vulnerability” following the October 7 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas.

    The court’s decision is based on provisions in the Racial Discrimination Act.

    The act applies equally to all racial and ethnic groups in Australia. It does not refer directly to antisemitism, nor does it prohibit it specifically.

    But Jewish people have been recognised as a distinct ethnic group protected by the act since 2002. As such, several successful court cases have been brought by Australian Jews under the laws.

    To breach the act, speech must be likely to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” a reasonable member of the target group – in this case, Jewish people in Australia. Trivial or minor harms do not meet this standard.

    Also, the speech must have been done “because of” the race or ethnicity of the target group. This means the race or ethnicity of the person or group must be one of the reasons for the speech.

    The law protects against racial discrimination, which includes ethnicity. It does not prohibit religious discrimination. However, for Jews, Sikhs and other ethno-religious groups there is some overlap.

    There is no liability under the Racial Discrimination Act if the speech was done “reasonably and in good faith” for a “genuine purpose in the public interest”.

    This is the free speech defence.

    Other breaches of the RDA

    In 2002, the Federal Court found the act was breached by a website that denied the extent and existence of the Jewish Holocaust.

    The website’s creator, Frederick Toben, claimed the content was true and its publication was in the public interest. However, the language used by Toben was deliberately provocative. His clear intention to offend Jewish people meant no defence was available.

    In September 2023, a Melbourne secondary college breached the act by allowing Jewish students to be systematically bullied and harassed, including through the use of racial epithets and Nazi swastikas.

    The court took into account the intergenerational trauma experienced by students whose families were affected by the Holocaust. The school was ordered to pay compensation to the students totalling more than $400,000.

    Criticism of Israel does not breach the law

    Crucially, in the recent Haddad decision, the court stated “it is not antisemitic to criticise Israel”.

    Parts of a speech made by Haddad that referred directly to the conduct of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces did not breach the Racial Discrimination Act because they could not reasonably be regarded as referring to Jewish people.

    Further, references in the speech to Zionism were regarded by the court as referring to a political ideology, rather than Jewish ethnicity.

    However, the court did recognise that criticism of Zionism and Israel was sometimes coded, or included subtle references to Jewish identity.

    Under the act, courts must carefully consider the context of relevant speech, including the tone and language used. That means blaming Jewish people for the actions of Israel or the Israeli military, for example, could in fact breach the law.

    Antisemitism definition

    The Federal Court’s decision in the Haddad case preceded the proposed antisemitism strategy by Jillian Segal, the government’s special envoy on combating hatred against Jewish people.

    Her report recommends the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism be embedded in all public institutions.

    The definition is controversial because it appears to conflate criticism of Israel with racial and ethnic prejudice. Concerns have been raised legitimate criticism of Israel and its government would be stifled if the definition was widely embraced.

    A version of the definition was adopted in February by Universities Australia, the governing body for Australian universities.

    Some universities have rejected the definition on the grounds it may restrict legitimate academic freedom on campus.

    No defence available to Haddad

    Haddad argued his speeches were justified because they were based on Islamic scriptures. However, after weighing up expert evidence, the court found denigrating Jewish people was not supported by scripture.

    The speeches were not made “reasonably and in good faith”, given Haddad had used inflammatory language. He further “courted controversy” by also maligning Christians and Hindus.

    As the speeches were no more than “bigoted polemic”, no conflict between religious freedom and the Racial Discrimination Act arose.

    In summary, Haddad breached the act by making profoundly offensive speeches regarding Jewish people in Australia.

    The court ordered the sermons be removed from social media, while Haddad was ordered not to repeat them.

    The decision clarifies that antisemitic speech is prohibited by the discrimination laws, although criticism of Israel is not.

    Bill Swannie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Australian law is clear: criticism of Israel does not breach the Racial Discrimination Act – https://theconversation.com/australian-law-is-clear-criticism-of-israel-does-not-breach-the-racial-discrimination-act-261175

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Why employees hesitate to disclose mental health concerns – and what employers can do about it

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Zhanna Lyubykh, Assistant Professor, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University

    About one in four employees has a diagnosable mental health condition, and up to 65 per cent say mental health concerns interfere with their ability to work.

    The economic toll is staggering. In the United States alone, mental health concerns cost over $280 billion annually. Worldwide, that figure reaches an estimated US$1 trillion annually.

    Mental health is increasingly being recognized as critical to workplace functioning. Organizations invest substantial resources in wellness programs, mental health training and employee assistance programs. Some even offer on-site therapy sessions at no cost to their employees.

    Yet despite these efforts, many employees remain hesitant to seek help or disclose their mental health conditions. This reluctance can leave employees under-supported and contribute to increased absenteeism and turnover. Those who choose not to disclose often miss out on access to workplace accommodations and support, which can exacerbate their conditions and even increase the risk of job loss.

    Disclosure can be a gateway to vital support, but questions remain about how to facilitate such disclosures. Our research, recently published as an open-access article, shows the decision to disclose a mental health condition isn’t purely personal and can depend on the broader workplace environment.

    Supportive workplaces lead to better mental health

    Across two samples, we surveyed 1,232 employees from Canada and the U.S. We recruited participants from Qualtrics, an online panel provider, and a large financial institution in Canada that operates across multiple locations. We asked employees — both with and without mental health concerns — to indicate the extent to which they perceived their organization as supportive of disclosing mental health concerns.

    Employees with mental health concerns shared whether they had disclosed their condition to their employer, how willing they were to disclose in the future, their levels of anxiety and depression, and a range of work-related attitudes and behaviours.

    We found that a work environment that was safe and supported the disclosure of mental health concerns was extremely beneficial for both employees and organizations.

    First, employees working in highly supportive environments were 55 per cent more likely to disclose their mental health concerns. These environments were also linked to greater willingness to disclose current or potential mental health concerns.

    Second, supportive environments were associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression, both of which are important indicators of mental health. This suggests that organizations can contribute to employee mental health by fostering supportive environments.

    Third, employees who felt their organization supported disclosure reported higher job satisfaction, greater work engagement, and more organizational citizenship behaviours, such as helping co-workers or going above and beyond their job duties. These kinds of behaviours help create healthy, high-performing workplaces.

    In one of our samples, we matched employee responses with their organizational records of absenteeism. We found that when employees rated their organizational environment as supportive of mental health disclosure, they were less likely to miss work due to illness.

    Supporting mental health disclosure

    Our study identified three elements of a workplace that support mental health disclosure. The first is the absence of stigma and anticipated discrimination. Many employees choose to conceal their concerns because they are fearful of being stigmatized, facing unfair treatment or being passed over for promotions.

    Employees often pick up on subtle cues in their environment — consciously or not — to estimate the risk of stigma. If they observe colleagues with disclosed mental health conditions being treated negatively, this signals low organizational support and makes disclosure appear risky.

    The second element is the availability of organizational resources. Disclosing one’s mental health concerns should unlock access to organizational supports, such as time off or counselling programs. These supports need to be tangible and go beyond mere mentions in the employee handbook. Employees form perceptions about how seriously their organization takes mental health based on whether these resources are present and accessible.

    The third element is the presence of social support. Our research found that social support was an important indicator of informal culture around mental health concerns. Such support may include emotional support from peers or supervisors, and the ability to openly discuss mental health.

    Employees notice whether, and how, mental health is discussed at work. When employees are encouraged to talk openly about it, the workplace appears more conducive to disclosure. In contrast, when concerns are dismissed or met with unhelpful advice such as “stay positive” or “toughen up,” the environment is unlikely to be seen as supportive.

    How organizations can support disclosure

    Our research points to four main strategies organizations can use to foster an environment that signals support for disclosing mental health concerns.

    1. Identify areas for improvement.

    Our research provides a list of survey items that organizations can use to track employee perceptions and identify priority areas for improvement. For example, employees might be asked whether they feel safe disclosing a mental health concern, or whether they believe the organization responds supportively when others do. These items can be include in annual employee surveys, with anonymity ensured to encourage honest responses.

    2. Combat stigma by role modelling.

    Workplace leaders are well-positioned to make positive change and role model appropriate behaviours. Employees often look to leaders and model their behaviour. Providing leaders with training about implicit biases, and equipping them with tools to provide support to employees with mental health concerns, can help start the cycle of positive change. Leaders who receive mental health training tend to be more supportive, more likely to encourage disclosure and are better able to guide employees toward appropriate help.

    3. Make resources visible and easily accessible.

    Even when organizations have resources available, employees may not know about them or may find them difficult to access. Organizations and managers need to frequently communicate about the availability of mental health resources and ensure they are easy to access. Red tape and bureaucracy can deter employees from accessing organizational supports.

    4. Talk openly about mental health.

    Talking about mental health can help normalize it and encourage employees to share their concerns. This can include intentionally creating opportunities for such discussions, such as mental health days. In addition, when senior leaders share their experiences with mental health concerns, it can help normalize such discussions.

    Ultimately, a disclosure-supportive environment benefits employee mental health and encourages positive work behaviours. In other words, when employees feel safe enough to speak up, both employees and organizations benefit from it.

    Zhanna Lyubykh receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

    Justin Weinhardt receives funding fromHaskayne School of Business’s Future Fund, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

    Nick Turner receives research funding from Cenovus Energy Inc., Haskayne School of Business’s Future Fund, Mitacs, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

    – ref. Why employees hesitate to disclose mental health concerns – and what employers can do about it – https://theconversation.com/why-employees-hesitate-to-disclose-mental-health-concerns-and-what-employers-can-do-about-it-261158

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Bitter melon for diabetes? Fenugreek for cholesterol? The research behind ancient remedies

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dipa Kamdar, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice, Kingston University

    Woman drinks bitter melon juice Andri wahyudi/Shutterstock

    Herbs like ashwagandha and turmeric are now widely recognised as part of the global wellness lexicon. But ayurveda, India’s traditional system of medicine with a history spanning more than 3,000 years, encompasses a much broader range of therapeutic plants.

    Grounded in principles of balance between body, mind and spirit, ayurvedic medicine relies on diet, lifestyle and natural substances to prevent and treat disease. Beyond the familiar, a number of lesser known herbs and spices are now gaining attention for their potential health benefits.

    Here are three ayurvedic botanicals worth knowing more about:

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    1. Bitter melon (momordica charantia)

    Despite its name, bitter melon’s benefits may be surprisingly sweet. Also called bitter gourd, this bumpy green vegetable has long been used in Ayurveda to support blood sugar control, combat infections and address inflammation, high cholesterol and even cancer.

    Laboratory studies suggest bitter melon can fight microbes like E. coli, Salmonella, herpes viruses and even malaria parasites. Early research also points to potential anti-cancer properties, particularly in breast cancer, where it may interfere with how cancer cells grow and communicate. However, most of this evidence comes from lab and animal studies; large-scale trials in humans are still lacking.

    Where bitter melon shows the strongest promise is in diabetes management. It contains several bioactive compounds – charantin (a plant steroid), polypeptide-p (a plant-derived insulin-like protein) and cucurbitanoids (a group of anti-inflammatory compounds) – which may mimic the effects of insulin, support its production, or improve the body’s use of glucose. In one study, bitter melon extract significantly lowered fasting blood glucose in people with type 2 diabetes after four weeks.

    How it works isn’t clear. It may help the pancreas produce insulin, protect insulin producing cells, or increase sugar uptake by the muscles. But the effects can be powerful, and when combined with diabetes medications, may cause blood sugar to drop too low. If you’re taking medication, it’s important to monitor your levels closely.

    Animal studies have also linked high doses to miscarriage risk, so pregnant people should eat it in moderation.

    2. Fenugreek (trigonella foenum-graecum)

    Fenugreek is a botanical multitasker. Depending on the part of the plant used, it can function as a herb, spice, or vegetable. Across various cultures, fenugreek has traditionally been used to relieve menstrual cramps, support breastfeeding and manage blood sugar.

    Emerging clinical evidence suggests fenugreek may help regulate cholesterol. It contains several potentially active compounds: sapogenins (plant-based compounds that enhance bile flow), pectin (a type of soluble fibre that binds to cholesterol in the digestive tract) and phytosterols (plant sterols that compete with cholesterol for absorption in the gut). Together, these may reduce fat absorption, block cholesterol uptake and promote cholesterol elimination by the liver. Fenugreek also contains antioxidants that may protect the heart and support healthy fat metabolism.

    It’s also gaining attention for blood sugar control. Fenugreek may slow carbohydrate digestion, reduce glucose absorption in the gut and enhance insulin release. Some longer-term studies show it can reduce both post-meal and fasting blood sugar levels, though findings are mixed.

    Fenugreek may also support lactation. It’s been classified as a galactagogue – a substance that promotes milk production – possibly by boosting key hormones: insulin (which helps regulate metabolism), prolactin (which stimulates milk production), and oxytocin (which triggers the let-down reflex during breastfeeding). In one study, mothers who drank fenugreek tea produced more breast milk than those in control groups. But as with many natural remedies, evidence is mixed, and placebo effects may play a role. It’s best to consult a healthcare provider before using fenugreek for breastfeeding support.

    Some trials suggest fenugreek may help increase testosterone in men – improving libido, reducing body fat and boosting energy – especially when paired with strength training. However, more robust studies are needed.

    Side effects are mostly mild and gastrointestinal, such as nausea, bloating or diarrhoea. Most studies have used relatively low doses, so it’s unclear what risks might exist at higher intake levels.

    3. Asafoetida (ferula asafoetida)

    You might know asafoetida as that strong-smelling spice often used in Indian cooking, but it’s also a respected digestive remedy in Ayurveda. Derived from the dried sap of ferula plant roots, asafoetida is known for easing bloating and gas.

    Its active compound, ferulic acid, may help digest complex carbs and reduce flatulence. In a clinical trial, asafoetida supplements significantly improved indigestion symptoms, including bloating, early fullness and heartburn. It appears to stimulate digestive enzymes and bile production, improving fat digestion.

    Asafoetida may also support people with irritable bowel syndrome. In one study, two weeks of asafoetida supplements led to improvements in IBS symptoms, though results have been mixed overall.

    Early lab studies suggest even more benefits – potential antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects, as well as roles in regulating blood pressure, easing asthma and possibly reducing blood sugar. But again, human trials are needed to confirm these effects.

    Caution is warranted if you’re taking blood pressure medications or anticoagulants like warfarin, as asafoetida may lower blood pressure and thin the blood.



    Read more:
    Ashwagandha: this ancient herb is trending for its potential health benefits – but also comes with risks

    Ancient remedies, modern caution

    Although research in humans is still developing, these lesser-known ayurvedic botanicals have been trusted in traditional medicine for centuries. They may offer promising support in managing chronic conditions or enhancing overall wellbeing, but they’re not without risk.

    Small amounts used in cooking are generally safe. But if you’re considering supplements or therapeutic doses, it’s important to speak with a healthcare professional, especially if you’re pregnant, taking medication, or managing a medical condition.

    Used wisely, these ancient ingredients could bridge the gap between holistic healing and modern science, bringing a little balance to both your kitchen and your health.

    Dipa Kamdar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Bitter melon for diabetes? Fenugreek for cholesterol? The research behind ancient remedies – https://theconversation.com/bitter-melon-for-diabetes-fenugreek-for-cholesterol-the-research-behind-ancient-remedies-259300

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Sex education in England to include warnings about choking – what parents need to know

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Alexandra Fanghanel, Associate Professor in Criminology, University of Greenwich

    UC1Plus/Shutterstock

    New government guidance for England will see pupils at secondary schools taught about the risks of choking and suffocation in sex and relationships education. If you’re a parent, the idea of this topic being introduced to your child might sound alarming.

    But as an academic expert researching risky sexual practices, I believe this inclusion – and the way it’s presented – is absolutely a good thing. We can’t ignore that choking is becoming a more normalised part of sex for young people. To keep them safe, they need to know about it – and how dangerous it is.

    The Department for Education guidance states that by the end of secondary education, schools should cover: “That strangulation and suffocation are criminal offences, and that strangulation (applying pressure to the neck) is an offence, regardless of whether it causes injury. That any activity that involves applying force or pressure to someone’s neck or covering someone’s mouth and nose is dangerous and can lead to serious injury or death.”

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    Though this stipulation does not explicitly link strangulation to sex, it marks a step in the right direction. Add to this acknowledgement that any sexual practice that explores these themes should only occur if participants are informed about the dangers, and we start some of the work of raising awareness of the risks associated with strangulation during sex.

    Research from the US which surveyed nearly 5,000 undergraduate students – with an average age of 20 – found that 58% of the women had experienced choking during sex. In the UK, a 2024 survey of 2,344 people found that 16% had taken part in choking during sex. But this rose to over a third of younger people aged 16 to 35.

    Teenagers need to know the risks of rough sex.
    WorldStockStudio/Shutterstock

    In 2020, I was teaching a postgraduate module on sexuality, gender and crime. In one of the classes about unconventional sexual expression and sexual subcultures, we were talking about bondage and sadomasochism (BDSM) and rough sex, including practices such as choking and strangulation. I remember one of the students was incredulous – not that people enjoy choking for sexual gratification, but that some people weren’t doing it. “Surely everyone does choking during sex,” she declared.

    I was really taken aback by her certainty that this practice was normal. I said to her, and the class, that choking is one of the most dangerous things you can do in a sexual encounter – but it struck me that the message of this risk is getting lost in representations of “kinky” sex in the mainstream.

    It has become so ordinary, it is even treated as a joke: in episode four of the new season of the BBC comedy Such Brave Girls, Josie, a lesbian, pretends to be hypersexually attracted to her husband, Seb, and goads him into having sex with her. As she recoils under his touch, she cries “choke me” while thrusting his hand on to her neck.

    This, according to social psychologist and sexuality expert Nicola Gavey, is the “mythology of everyday kink”: that everyone is doing it, that this is how we have sex now.

    Knowing the risk

    Choking really is dangerous. According to campaign group We Can’t Consent To This, instances where women have been killed during a sexual encounter in the UK, often as a result of choking, have increased significantly over the past 50 years.

    Since 2020, I have been researching rough sex gone wrong, and what happens when these cases go to court: my book on this topic is coming out later this year. My research demonstrates that more education about unconventional sexual expression is needed, so that people who are curious about it can explore it from a risk-aware, empowered vantage point. This includes knowing which aspects of rough sex can not ever be done safely.

    The issue is that people, including young people, are curious about being choked during sex. Some people want to do it. Some people find it arousing. Some find it exciting, even if it is also scary. Simply denying that these desires or curiosities exist makes it much more difficult for people to explore rough sex in an informed or risk-aware way.

    It’s only by talking about it candidly that young people can learn there is absolutely no safe way to strangle or choke their partner, and that there are other ways to explore these more unconventional desires.

    BDSM educator Jay Wiseman has noted that in his experience, the more people know about how unpredictable and risky suffocation and strangulation is, the fewer choose to do it.

    This is how we can deal with dangerous, reckless sexual practice and better protect women, who are disproportionately harmed or killed in these cases.

    Alexandra Fanghanel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Sex education in England to include warnings about choking – what parents need to know – https://theconversation.com/sex-education-in-england-to-include-warnings-about-choking-what-parents-need-to-know-261224

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  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Incels, misogyny, role models: what England’s new relationships and sex education lessons will cover – and how young people will benefit

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sophie King-Hill, Associate Professor at the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham

    Daniel Hoz/Shutterstock

    Sex and relationships education for children at primary and secondary state-funded schools in England will see significant changes following the release of new statutory guidance from the government. There are some stark differences between this and the draft guidance issued by the previous Conservative government in May 2024.

    The new guidance also looks different in many ways to the last statutory guidance, released in 2019. It includes many new and valuable topics such as the law around strangulation, sextortion, upskirting, deepfakes, suicide prevention and bereavement. Schools are also required to challenge misogynistic ideas, cover misogynistic influencers and online content, and explore prejudice and pornography.

    As a researcher working on sex education and masculinity, I see many positives in how these issues are approached in the government’s new guidance. The new topics are a move in the right direction, meeting the needs of the pupils being taught.

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    Another key change is the removal of the proposal to put age restrictions on the teaching of certain topics. This is welcome news: it aligns with evidence and allows teachers to design sex education that takes context into account. It means they can teach their pupils what they need to know in a proactive and responsive way.

    The guidance also explicitly mentions giving pupils the opportunity to discuss incels. Incel, an abbreviation of “involuntary celibate”, refers to those who identify as wanting romantic and sexual partners but find it difficult to achieve this.

    Online incel communities are underpinned by hostility towards women, resentment, misogyny and the support of extreme violence against women. They may espouse an ideological position that claims societal structures are set up to unfairly disadvantage them.

    Keeping boys in the conversation

    One aspect included in the guidance is that it is important for pupils to understand that “most boys and young men are respectful to girls and young women and each other”. It also states that “teachers should avoid language which stigmatises boys, or suggests that boys or men are always perpetrators or that girls or women are always victims”.

    These are really important points that need to underpin the teaching of misogyny and online incel culture. A risk is that such teaching may otherwise portray boys, as a group, as perpetrators. This can create a culture of blame that may alienate boys and young men. Instead, seeing boys as valuable contributors to these conversations around misogyny can foster educational progress.

    Boys and girls need opportunities to discuss these issues.
    Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock

    Another important reference in the guidance is that children and young people should have opportunities to develop “positive conceptions of masculinity and femininity”, and how to “identify and learn from positive male role models”.

    This focus on positive examples of masculinity is a welcome way to support boys and young men in developing healthy identities – not only considering gender but other intersecting aspects of their identity, such as class, ethnicity, culture and values.

    Good relationships and sex education needs dialogue and understanding between pupils, teachers and parents. For adults, this means knowing the landscape first. Familiarisation with why young people may be attracted to problematic online spaces will be useful.

    These online spaces often offer a skewed sense of belonging, and offer simplistic answers to complex emotions and questions. Young people’s thoughts and opinions of misogynist online influencers may be contradictory, rather than simple approval or disapproval. This requires thoughtful unpicking of concepts and ideals, and open conversation rather than blame. It is also important to recognise that teaching these topics is not easy, and that teachers may need support too.

    New content

    While much of the new guidance is welcome, it’s important that teacher training and professional development keeps pace with these changes. Teachers may not feel confident addressing such a broad range of often-sensitive topics without support.

    The guidance also falls short of making relationships and sex education statutory for those aged 16-18 in sixth-form colleges, 16-19 academies or further education colleges, despite evidence that it is very much needed for this age group.

    The rights of transgender people and the issues affecting them are dealt with in a limited way, which could affect teachers’ ability to have supportive conversations with trans and non-binary pupils. There is also limited detail for those working in special education for pupils with complex needs.

    One of the most important aspects of teaching on sex and relationships is to create a safe space for open discussion.

    Young people should be encouraged to provide their own input into how relationships and sex education is taught, and to give their ideas on what they feel they need to learn about – and what they already know. While this approach is often overlooked, meaningful engagement with pupils is highlighted as a key guiding principle in the new guidance.

    Young people are the experts on the world they inhabit. It is essential they are listened to to ensure that lessons are relevant and effective.

    Sophie King-Hill receives funding from the ESRC.

    – ref. Incels, misogyny, role models: what England’s new relationships and sex education lessons will cover – and how young people will benefit – https://theconversation.com/incels-misogyny-role-models-what-englands-new-relationships-and-sex-education-lessons-will-cover-and-how-young-people-will-benefit-261217

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