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Category: Science

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Programme Management Officer, P-4, Bridgetown

    Source: UNISDR Disaster Risk Reduction

    Apply here

    Org. Setting and Reporting

    Created in December 1999, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is the designated focal point in the United Nations system for the coordination of efforts to reduce disasters and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the United Nations and regional organizations and activities in both developed and less developed countries. Led by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG), UNDRR has over 160 staff located in its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and in regional offices. Specifically, UNDRR guides, monitors, analyses and reports on progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, supports regional and national implementation of the Framework and catalyzes action and increases global awareness to reduce disaster risk working with UN Member States and a broad range of partners and stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians and the science and technology community. This project position is based in Bridgetown, Barbados. The Programme Officer reports to the Chief of the UNDRR Regional Office for America and the Caribbean, who is based in Panama City, Panama.

    Responsibilities

    Within delegated authority, the Programme Officer will be responsible for the following duties:

    • Develops, implements and evaluates assigned programmes/projects in the Caribbean region, etc.; monitors and analyzes programme/project development and implementation; reviews relevant documents and reports; identifies problems and issues to be addressed and initiates corrective actions; liaises with relevant parties; hire and supervise staff and consultants, built and sustain partnerships, ensures follow-up actions.
    • Performs consulting assignments, in collaboration with the client, by planning facilitating workshops, through other interactive sessions and assisting in developing the action plan the client will use to manage the change.
    • Provides substantive support to intergovernmental processes dealing with risk reduction by: preparing inputs for reports /processes of intergovernmental bodies; following intergovernmental meetings and preparing summary reports; preparing inputs to statements by members of the bureau and Secretariat staff to such meetings; assisting in the organization of panels, round tables, etc. on risk reduction and resilience.
    • Researches, analyzes and presents information gathered from diverse sources.
    • Coordinates policy development, including the review and analysis of issues and trends, preparation of evaluations or other research activities and studies,
    • Generates survey initiatives; designs data collection tools; reviews, analyzes and interprets responses, identifies problems/issues and prepares conclusions. • Organizes and prepares written outputs, e.g. draft background papers, talking points, analysis, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications, etc.
    • Provides substantive backstopping to consultative and other meetings, conferences, etc., to include proposing agenda topics, identifying participants, preparation of documents and presentations, etc.
    • Initiates and coordinates outreach activities; conducts training workshops, seminars, etc.; makes presentations on assigned topics/activities. Upon delegation from the Chief of the Regional office, participates in regional or national meetings on the implementation of the Sendai Framework in the regional.
    • Leads and/or participates in large, complex field missions, including provision of guidance to external consultants, government officials and other parties and drafting mission summaries, etc.
    • Coordinates activities related to budget funding (programme/project preparation and submissions, progress reports, financial statements, etc.) and prepares related documents/reports (pledging, work programme, programme budget, annual reports, impact stories etc.). Ensures that the outputs produced meet high-quality standards; that reports are clear, objective and based on comprehensive data; and that they comply with relevant organizational mandates.
    • Serves as the contact point for the Santiago Network on loss and damage for the Caribbean region in liaison with the SN secretariat.
    • Performs other duties as required.

    Competencies

    Professionalism: Knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts and approaches relevant to disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation or other relevant specialized field. Ability to identify issues, analyze and participate in the resolution of issues/problems. Ability to conduct data collection using various methods. Conceptual analytical and evaluative skills to conduct independent research and analysis, including familiarity with and experience in the use of various research sources, including electronic sources on the internet, intranet and other databases. Ability to apply judgment in the context of assignments given, plan own work and manage conflicting priorities. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

    Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.

    Planning & Organizing: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.

    Education

    Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in sustainable development, disaster risk reduction, climate change or a related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with an additional two (2) years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

    Work Experience

    A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in project or programme management, administration or related area is required. At least three (3) years of experience in disaster risk reduction, resilience building, or climate change adaptation is required. At least two (2) years of experience in the English-speaking Caribbean region is desirable.

    Languages

    English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of Spanish or French is desirable.

    Assessment

    Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

    Special Notice

    This is a project post. Appointment or assignment against this position is for an initial period of one year. The appointment or assignment and renewal or extension thereof are subject to the availability of the post or funds, budgetary approval or extension of the mandate. At the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the recruitment and employment of staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, with due regard to geographic diversity. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications and organizational needs. The United Nations is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The United Nations recruits and employs staff regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds or disabilities. Reasonable accommodation for applicants with disabilities may be provided to support participation in the recruitment process when requested and indicated in the application. The United Nations Secretariat is committed to achieving 50/50 gender balance and geographical diversity in its staff. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this position. In line with the overall United Nations policy, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction encourages a positive workplace culture which embraces inclusivity and leverages diversity within its workforce. Measures are applied to enable all staff members to contribute equally and fully to the work and development of the organization, including flexible working arrangements, family-friendly policies and standards of conduct. Individual contractors and consultants who have worked within the UN Secretariat in the last six months, irrespective of the administering entity, are ineligible to apply for professional and higher, temporary or fixed-term positions and their applications will not be considered.

    United Nations Considerations

    According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Candidates will not be considered for employment with the United Nations if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. The term “sexual exploitation” means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. The term “sexual abuse” means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. The term “sexual harassment” means any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, and when the gravity of the conduct warrants the termination of the perpetrator’s working relationship. Candidates who have committed crimes other than minor traffic offences may not be considered for employment. Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. By accepting a letter of appointment, staff members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the United Nations in accordance with staff regulation 1.2 (c). Further, staff members in the Professional and higher category up to and including the D-2 level and the Field Service category are normally required to move periodically to discharge functions in different duty stations under conditions established in ST/AI/2023/3 on Mobility, as may be amended or revised. This condition of service applies to all position specific job openings and does not apply to temporary positions. Applicants are urged to carefully follow all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira, and to refer to the Applicant Guide by clicking on “Manuals” in the “Help” tile of the inspira account-holder homepage. The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application. Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.

    No Fee

    THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

    Apply here

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Secure all food, bait and rubbish on K’gari

    Source: Tasmania Police

    Issued: 2 Jul 2025

    Open larger image

    This dingo has removed the lid from a jar of peanut butter found in rubbish.

    Open larger image

    Dingoes will tear open tents and containers to access food and rubbish.

    Photos of damaged tents show the incredible sense of smell dingoes have, and their capacity for opportunistic feeding in the camping areas on K’gari.

    Taken by rangers from the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI), the photos show the results of food and rubbish being incorrectly stored by campers.

    Dr Linda Behrendorff said dingoes recently gorged themselves on accessible food and rubbish after breaking into a tent and then began hanging around the camping area.

    “Dingoes are opportunistic by nature and have torn open tents, can chew eskies open and knock over bins before ripping rubbish bags apart,” Dr Behrendorff said.

    “Wildlife scavenging around camping areas is a common occurrence, and the problem with leaving food or rubbish where dingoes or other wildlife can get it makes them less fearful of humans.

    “Dingoes don’t differentiate between food and rubbish, and they can start approaching people for food which puts dingoes and people at risk.

    “Even in fenced areas, campers must ensure that all food and rubbish is stored in strong, secure containers and kept in an inaccessible place, such as a vehicle cabin or an enclosed ute tray.

    “A tent or annexe is not a secure place, and dingoes have also taken people’s belongings such as clothing, toiletries or shoes that carry the smell of food.

    “Fishers should bury fish frames and unused bait at least 50cm deep in the sand to prevent dingoes digging it up.

    “During the school holidays, we’re asking everyone to secure your camping area, secure your food and shoo dingoes away if they’re lingering nearby.”

    Bins are provided on K’gari, and people are encouraged to use bins properly and never leave bags of rubbish beside bins.

    Reasons to prevent dingoes getting access to food and rubbish:

    • Opportunistic feeders: They will eat a wide variety of foods, including rubbish.
    • Habituation: Feeding dingoes or leaving food unattended can lead to them losing their natural fear of humans and becoming familiar and habituated to human-provided food, making them more likely to scavenge.
    • Food availability: There is plenty of natural food for dingoes on K’gari. They are opportunistic predators, and if food is readily available in the form of rubbish, they will likely scavenge for it, especially if it is easier to obtain than hunting.
    • Never feed dingoes: It is illegal and can have serious consequences for both people and dingoes.
    • If dingoes don’t find food at your camping area, they are more likely to hunt or scavenge for natural food.

    It is an offence to deliberately or inadvertently feed dingoes. On the spot fines include $2,580 for deliberately feeding a dingo and $464 for food availability. The maximum court-imposed penalty for feeding dingoes is $26,614.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI: Para911 Parasite Cleanse Officially Launched- Exploring the Science Behind its Gut Detox Para911 Drops Promises

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Tallmadge, OH, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In 2025, digestive issues and parasite infestations are more common than most individuals think. They may be associated with uncomfortable symptoms such as fatigue, bloating, and some skin issues. Most of the individuals live with the parasites that may impact their entire well-being. Para911 Parasite Cleanse promises to be an effective and natural solution for supporting gut health and discarding harmful parasites. In this evaluation, we will delve deeply into the science behind the product, its components, and whether it lives up to its promises. For more information about Para911 Visit Official Website

    Key Features of This Effective Product 

    If you have observed a decline in energy, frequent digestive problems, and some other skin woes, it means you are in contact with parasites far more than you realize. Whether you cook badly, go abroad, or play with animals, it is easy to be exposed to food risks. Also, parasites work hidden without notice, as they cause fatigue and trouble with digestion. Along with this, it decreases the power of the immune system. That’s why Para911 Parasite Cleanse has been designed to focus on unexplained detox teas and colon cleansers. It is a herbal formula that is both effective and gentle.

    Section 1: Digestive Problem Search Trends and the Rise of Para911 Parasite Cleanse

    Undoubtedly, Para911 Parasite Cleanse has been searched by thousands of people worldwide. Also, our research included analyzing several Para911 Parasite Cleanse evaluation from genuine customers and reputable sources. We also evaluated the supplement on the basis of ingredients, effectiveness, overall quality, and user feedback.

    Para911 Parasite Cleanse evaluation from individuals suggest that this supplement is effective in offering relief and encouraging a healthier gut. Most of the individuals report experiencing improved digestion and more energy after consuming the product for some weeks. Additionally, the drops are simple to take, which makes them a convenient alternative for those with a busy schedule.

    However, genuine user evaluation are important when evaluating any product, and this product is no exception. Sales of this supplement have gone up lately for individuals who deal with persistent digestive issues, constant exhaustion, or difficult-to-beat skin conditions. Also, a lot of users feel a positive difference after some period of time with more energy, sharper thinking, and better digestion. Furthermore, with all the detox supplement promises floating around, it is simple to be doubtful. If you’re struggling with gut-related issues, following Para911’s tips could be the key to a lasting solution

    Section 2: Para911 Parasite Cleanse’s Immune System Support and Eliminating Harmful Parasites Philosophy

    Para911 Parasite Cleanse usually functions by utilizing natural components to detoxify the digestive system and discard harmful parasites. Additionally, the active compounds in the oils and herbs help break down parasites, restore balance, and cleanse the gut for the digestive process.

    These drops are designed with a blend of powerful and effective ingredients, and each is clinically backed for its role in supporting gut health and discarding parasites. It generally includes: Black Walnut, Wormwood, Clove, Garlic, and Oregano Oil. All of these components work together to eliminate harmful parasites and improve your gut health.

    Besides, Para911 Parasite Cleanse also helps to boost nutrient absorption, decrease bloating and gas, and support the entire immune system. So, you can encourage digestive health without having any issues. However, outcomes may vary depending on the user’s health. On the basis of feedback, most of the individuals report improvements within 2 – 3 weeks of regular usage.

    Section 3: What Users Are Searching

    These days, users are searching for information about their health and digestive issues. That’s why Para911 Parasite Cleanse has become one of the most important and broad products in the entire market. However, this product is designed with natural components, but it is still good to take specific precautions like:

    • Those with pre-existing medical conditions should seek medical advice to ensure compatibility.
    • Always follow the suggested dosage for the best outcomes.
    • If you are nursing, pregnant, or taking medication, discuss with a healthcare professional before use to ensure the product is safe for you.

    Online conversations have gained an associated mineral synergy with metabolic resilience. Components such as Garlic, Oregano Oil, Clove, Wormwood, and Black Walnut are favored for their roles in hormone optimization and cellular detoxification. Para911 Parasite Cleanse enters into this discussion by offering improved immunity in a daily drop form.

    Section 4: Component Spotlight – From Ingredient Name to Functions

    The trending Para911 Parasite Cleanse drops typically contain:

    • Wormwood has been used for several years to expel intestinal parasites. It has proven antimicrobial properties that deal with harmful organisms in the digestive tract.
    • Clove is completely enriched with eugenol, which is a compound that comes with anti-parasitic properties. It also helps to eliminate eggs from parasites and prevents reinfestation.
    • Black Walnut is well known for its capacity to fight against parasites. It includes juglone, which helps kill harmful parasites and cleanse the intestines.
    • Garlic is broadly known for its immune-boosting properties, and it supports the body in discarding parasites while encouraging overall health.
    • Oregano Oil is the most powerful antioxidant that comes with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects. It may also help to fight against infections and support gut health.

    Section 5: Reason Behind Purchasing and Utilization of Para911 Parasite Cleanse

    Para911 Parasite Cleanse is perfect for a wide range of individuals who want to eliminate parasites and improve their gut health. Here are the kinds of people who may benefit the most from this product:

    • Individuals With Poor Diets – Those who usually utilize processed foods or have unbalanced diets may find that this product helps detoxify the entire system.
    • People Experiencing Digestive Problems – If you are facing indigestion, bloating, or discomfort, this supplement may help to recover gut health.
    • Everyone is searching for a Natural Solution – Para911 Parasite Cleanse drops are a plant-based and natural solution that offers a holistic approach to digestive health.
    • Users Interested in Scientifically Approved Products – Those who like products that have been evaluated for efficacy and quality will definitely appreciate this product.
    • Individual Searching Convenient Product – This liquid form makes this product simple to take, especially for those who don’t want to swallow pills.

    Before buying any product, it is very important to use the product according to the complete instructions. In the same manner, users should use Para911 Parasite Cleanse by following these instructions:

    • Best Used Prior Meals – Taking these drops before meals helps to expand the effectiveness of parasite discard and supports the entire digestive health.
    • Take 15 to 30 drops daily – Make sure to take the suggested dosage daily. Also, you may mix these drops with a glass of water to assist with hydration and absorption.
    • Mix it with a Healthy Lifestyle – To get optimal gut health, you should complement Para911 Parasite Cleanse with regular exercise and a balanced diet.

    Section 6: Informational Access and Availability

    If you also want to resolve digestive issues with Para911 Parasite Cleanse then you visit official website to learn more. This product is provided in drops form and is designed in facilities that follow the GMP standards. Its formulation reflects growing user demand for hormone-aligned, stimulant-free, and clean-label supplements.

    This kind of release is intended for informational purposes only and does not provide treatment for medical conditions. At Para911 Parasite Cleanse, we are completely committed to user safety and education. Overall, we encourage users to learn more about the BHB-based formulation on the official webpage and discuss with a doctor prior to making decisions about the products.

    Section 7: Pros, Cons, Refund Policy & Potential Side Effects

    Para911 Parasite Cleanse is available with natural components and effectiveness in supporting gut health. Furthermore, as with all products, user responses may vary:

    Pros of the product

    • Plant-based and natural components
    • 3rd party tested for quality
    • Supports entire gut health
    • Simple to use liquid format
    • Affordable price for a high-quality product

    Cons of the Product

    • Some individuals may face mild negative impacts
    • Outcomes may vary based on users
    • Needs regular usage for complete advantages
    • It may take some time to see observable outcomes
    • Not ideal for those allergic to specific herbs

    Don’t worry because Para911 Parasite Cleanse is available with a 90-day money-back guarantee. It shows that if you are not happy with the product, you may request a full refund. However, the eligibility of a refund includes: you may return any unused product, provide proof of purchase, and contact user support within 90 days.

    As Para911 Parasite Cleanse drops are designed with herbal components, they usually have minimal negative effects. Furthermore, some of the users may experience:

    • Allergic reactions – If any user is sensitive to any of the above components, such as black walnut, wormwood, or clove, you must discontinue use and discuss with a healthcare professional.
    • Temporary Gain in Bowel Movements – Some users may observe more frequent bowel movements as your body starts to detoxify and discard parasites.
    • Mild Digestive Discomfort – Well, your body adjusts to this product, you may face mild bloating or stomach upset, which usually subsides after some days of usage.

    Section 8: Features of Para911 Parasite Cleanse 

    This effective product comes with lavish range of features and that’s why, it becomes popular in the entire market. If anyone has digestive issues or suffering from bloating or other digestion related problems, he or she should see this evaluation.

    It generally includes natural components that can work efficiently in the body. With the help of natural ingredients, it begins working effectively to resolve digestion issues. The best part is that it may eliminate the harmful parasites from your body and provides complete detoxification.

    Section 9: Key Advantages of Para911 Parasite Cleanse

    Para911 Parasite Cleanse is formulated to offer a comprehensive solution for eliminating harmful parasites from the body. One of its main advantages is its capacity to discard internal parasites along with their eggs, which may cause several health problems such as fatigue, digestive discomfort, and nutrient deficiencies. By dealing with the exact cause, this product helps to restore the natural balance of your body and enhances overall wellness.

    Another important advantage is the support it provides for enhancing digestive health. Parasites disrupt the gut environment, leading to constipation, bloating, or irregular bowel movements. The ingredients in this product work together to detoxify the digestive tract, encouraging better nutrient absorption and decreasing inflammation.

    Para911 Parasite Cleanse plays an important role in improving immunity, and a healthy immune system response is important to fight off infections and manage vitality. The carefully selected natural herbs in this product improve immunity, helping the body protect itself effectively against parasites as well as other pathogens.

    Lastly, Para911 Parasite Cleanse helps to decrease gut inflammation and discomfort caused by parasitic infections. Supporting detoxification and calming the digestive system, it helps to alleviate symptoms like nausea and cramping, enabling users to experience more energy and balance throughout the entire time. Thus, this holistic approach makes this product a reliable alternative for managing long-term immune and gut health.

    Final Verdict and Conclusion

    In this evaluation of Para911 Parasite Cleanse, we found that this supplement provides a natural and effective solution for those experiencing parasites along with gut health problems. With a 4.8-star rating and amazing evaluation from genuine users, we suggest giving it a try if you are searching for a way to cleanse the body and restore digestive balance. However, you can also get more information on the official webpage of the Para911.

    About the Company

    Para911 Parasite Cleanse was founded to explore how stimulant-free and targeted supplementation may support appetite regulation, healthy metabolism, and hormonal harmony. On the basis of scientific research, the company makes wellness products that align with the natural rhythm of the body without depending on synthetics, diets, or stimulants. Para911 Parasite Cleanse does not offer medical treatment and promotes responsible supplementation in coordination with licensed healthcare professionals.   

    Media Contact-

    New Launch Product Name- Para911 Parasite Cleanse 

    Email: support@para911care.com

    Website: www.para911care.com

    Phone- +1 (877) 211-7745

    Address: 289 Northeast Ave, Tallmadge, OH, 44278, USA

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Overuse of riprap to prevent riverbank erosion is harming B.C. rivers

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Charlotte Milne, PhD Candidate, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia

    Every spring, melting snow and heavy rainfall brings a higher risk of flooding and riverbank erosion to parts of Canada. Bank erosion is responsible for a significant portion of annual flood damage in Canada, with estimates suggesting the costs could grow as high as $13.6 billion anually by the end of the century.

    In British Columbia, erosion is primarily managed by “hardening” riverbanks with large rocks called riprap. These rocks are so prevalent along B.C. rivers that you might think they are part of the natural environment, but they are not.

    Hardened riverbanks offer temporary protection from river movement, but riprap can lead to degraded rivers. Erosion is a natural process that helps maintain healthy and diverse river habitat. However, as societies expand, there is more demand to control river movement and prevent erosion.

    Through my work as a river scientist and flood risk researcher in New Zealand and Canada, I have witnessed the sometimes devastating impacts of river erosion and have also seen just how lifeless rivers can become when overly restricted.

    Of course we need to protect people, property and infrastructure from riverbank erosion. But current erosion management is hurting B.C. rivers.

    The problem with riprap

    Riprap is essential for stabilizing riverbanks when infrastructure and property are at immediate risk. The rocks are often laid down as “temporary” erosion prevention before or during floods.

    The problem is, if you harden one area with riprap, that bank transfers the erosion-hungry current elsewhere, driving the need for further riprap to be installed.

    The exact impact that riprap is having on B.C. waterways requires more research, but professionals working in the province’s rivers are already seeing the damage.

    During a workshop I led with colleagues from Resilient Waters and Watershed Watch, we found that in a group of 83 river and flood management professionals, 53 had witnessed adverse impacts from riprap use in the province’s Lower Mainland region.

    It is now estimated that more than half of the gravel sections of the Fraser River have been hardened through riprap. To date, there has been limited consideration of the environmental consequences of such widespread bank hardening.

    Riprap can bury the shallow spawning habitats preferred by many fish. It can prevent the “undercutting” of banks, a process that creates important spaces that salmon species prefer for shelter.

    In addition, riprap causes water temperatures to rise as rocks trap heat from sunlight that would normally be shaded by riparian vegetation. That lack of vegetation also means less wood and debris in the rivers, which would normally add essential habitat complexity that is preferred by many fish species.

    Riprap also acts as a potential migration barrier for salmon and other species trying to navigate the riverbanks. Finally, as riprap lessens available habitat for indigenous species, it can offer preferential habitat for invasive ones instead.

    Given the potential for environmental harm, there have been calls to limit riprap use in British Columbia. Experts have suggested it should only be used in essential cases, ideally in river systems that are already heavily impacted by humans.

    Bioengineering, revegetation alternatives

    The good news is that there are bank-stabilizing alternatives to riprap.

    Bioengineering involves using vegetation to create or support engineered structures. For example, live tree cuttings can be woven together to create wattles or brush mattresses. This process creates living tree walls and coverings that grow and strengthen over time.

    Revegetation is another approach, using riparian planting to strengthen riverbanks with root systems. In some cases, this can be as simple as laying down seeds at the right time of year, often with other erosion control options like mulch terraces.

    The key to the success of bioengineering and revegetation efforts is that they need to be done proactively. Unlike riprap, which can be installed as an emergency response measure, vegetation needs time to grow.

    Next steps for B.C.

    Riprap along part of Vancouver’s False Creek in July 2020. Given the potential for environmental harm, there have been calls to limit riprap use in British Columbia.
    (Shutterstock)

    Is it possible to move on from our over-reliance on riprap in B.C.?

    During our workshop, experts discussed what needs to happen to support environmentally friendly bank stabilization options.

    First off, we need to be talking about the overuse of riprap more. Currently, decision-makers and property-owners are often unaware of the potential harm that riprap can have on our rivers, or that alternatives exist. While many alternatives won’t be appropriate in extreme erosion cases, for the province’s smaller and healthier rivers, they would be ideal.

    For this to happen, the bank-stabilization regulation process in B.C. needs to change. Currently it is hard to receive consent or funding to undertake bank strengthening activities outside of emergency riprap installation.

    The B.C. government needs to adapt local guidelines and regulations to allow wider use of alternative methods, prioritizing proactive bank strengthening. They can draw on findings from elsewhere in Canada where alternative bank-stabilization options are already being tested.

    Shifting away from a dependence on riprap won’t be easy, but in a province that relies on healthy rivers and fish, it should be a priority.

    As one workshop attendee put it: “We don’t want to see sterile kilometres of riprap.”

    Charlotte Milne receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Public Scholars Initiative at UBC. The research mentioned in this article received funding from UBC’s Sustainability Scholars Program and support from Resilient Waters and the Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

    – ref. Overuse of riprap to prevent riverbank erosion is harming B.C. rivers – https://theconversation.com/overuse-of-riprap-to-prevent-riverbank-erosion-is-harming-b-c-rivers-255283

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Undersea cables are vulnerable to sabotage – but this takes skill and specialist equipment

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By John Aitken, Associate, RAND Europe, RAND Europe

    Countries have come to rely on a network of cables and pipes under the sea for their energy and communications. So it has been worrying to read headlines about communications cables being cut and, in one case, an undersea gas pipeline being blown up..

    Critical undersea infrastructure (CUI) as these connections are known, supports about US$9 trillion (£6.6 trillion) worth of trade per day. A coordinated attack on this network could undoubtedly have devastating consequences.

    But, as a former submarine commander who researches maritime security, I believe that attacking and disrupting the network is not as easy as some reports might make it appear. Deliberately snagging a pipeline with a dragging anchor in relatively shallow waters can cause a lot of damage, but it is fairly indiscriminate trick with a shelf life, since the damage can be repaired, and deniability becomes increasingly difficult.

    Targeting the cable networks in deeper waters require more sophisticated methods, which are much more challenging to carry out.

    A hostile state wishing to attack this network first needs to locate the cables they wish to target. The majority of the newer commercial cables are very clearly charted, but their positions are not exact.

    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.

    Cables and pipelines, even the heaviest ones, will drift somewhat as they are laid, and the deeper the water they sit in, the greater the distance they may drift.

    Those newer cables are often buried in a shallow trench to protect them, which
    makes locating and accessing them more challenging. Older cables were laid in slightly less exact navigational times, some before the GPS network was
    available for civilian use. They are not in pristine or predictable patterns.

    The positions of cables used by the military are generally not advertised at all, for reasons of security. Locating the target cable requires a detailed
    understanding of the topography and features of the seabed. That sort of picture can only be built up by survey and reconnaissance.

    Accurately surveying the seabed takes time and significant effort. And to get certainty of the picture, the survey or reconnaissance operation needs to be conducted in overlapping rows. This is painstaking work which is conditional upon the state of the sea.

    Specialist equipment

    Identifying a cable against the seabed or in the trench in which it lies requires a sonar resolution of something in the order of one or two metres, requiring specialist equipment.

    In 2024, several submarine telecommunications cables were disrupted in the Baltic Sea. Although there had been suspicions about ships dragging their anchors to damage the cables, authorities were not able to confirm this. The damage has not been conclusively attributed to a third party.

    There have been fears about “hybrid warfare”: deniable actions taken another nation that are enough to cause disruption, but are not enough to be an attributable act of war.

    In 2017, the UK chief of the defence staff said that Russia posed a threat to undersea cables. Russia has spent considerable money, time and effort in developing the
    platforms and capabilities that could target undersea infrastructure, if the country so wished.

    An organisation called the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) operates deep-diving nuclear submarines, as well as a survey ship that is equipped with a deep diving submersible capable of operating at 6,000 metres.

    Russian navy

    The Russian navy also operates survey vessels such as the Akademik Vladimirsky. The precise sensors that the ship is equipped with are unknown – but in a 2012 research expedition to the South Pole it deployed a proton magnetometer, which can be used to discover metallic objects on the seabed such as pipelines.

    However, there is no suggestion that these survey vessels have been involved in disrupting undersea infrastructure. Nevertheless, operations by such vessels do not go unobserved by the west. Indicators and warnings of their deployments can be gained from imagery, and western submarines are capable of tracking and observing their patrols.

    The threat posed to Europe’s critical undersea infrastructure is real, and the consequences of a successful attack could be catastrophic. But this is a difficult business in a very challenging environment.

    The most acute threat is in the littoral (shore zone), where cables make landfall and in the shallows around those landing places. Protecting these chokepoints should be a top priority.

    That, in turn, requires adequate numbers of attack submarines capable of
    monitoring and, if necessary, deterring or disrupting hostile activity. Vigilance,
    investment, and realism – not alarmism – will be the foundation of a credible undersea defence.

    John Aitken 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. Undersea cables are vulnerable to sabotage – but this takes skill and specialist equipment – https://theconversation.com/undersea-cables-are-vulnerable-to-sabotage-but-this-takes-skill-and-specialist-equipment-259417

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: How often should you really be washing your bedding? A microbiologist explains

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Primrose Freestone, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Microbiology, University of Leicester

    Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock

    Most of us spend around a third of our lives in bed. Sleep isn’t just downtime; it’s essential for normal brain function and overall health. And while we often focus on how many hours we’re getting, the quality of our sleep environment matters too. A clean, welcoming bed with crisp sheets, soft pillowcases and fresh blankets not only feels good, it also supports better rest.

    But how often should we really be washing our bed linens?

    According to a 2022 YouGov poll, just 28% of Brits wash their sheets once a week. A surprising number admitted to leaving it much longer, with some stretching to eight weeks or more between washes. So what’s the science-backed guidance?

    Let’s break down what’s actually happening in your bed every night – and why regular washing is more than just a question of cleanliness.

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    Each night, as we sleep, we shed hundreds of thousands of skin cells, excrete oils from our sebaceous glands, and sweat up to half a pint of fluid – even if we’ve showered just before bed. Our skin hosts millions of bacteria and fungi, many of which are transferred onto sheets, pillows and duvets as we move during the night.

    That fresh sweat may be odourless, but bacteria on our skin, particularly staphylococci, break it down into smelly byproducts. This is often why you wake up with body odour, even if you went to bed clean.

    But it’s not just about microbes. During the day, our hair and bodies collect pollutants, dust, pollen and allergens, which can also transfer to our bedding. These can trigger allergies, affect breathing, and contribute to poor air quality in the bedroom.

    Dust mites, fungi and other unseen bedfellows

    The flakes of skin we shed every night become food for dust mites – microscopic creatures that thrive in warm, damp bedding and mattresses. The mites themselves aren’t dangerous, but their faecal droppings are potent allergens that can aggravate eczema, asthma and allergic rhinitis.

    Fungi also find your bed appealing. Some species, like aspergillus fumigatus, have been detected in used bed pillows and can cause serious lung infections, particularly in people with weakened immune systems.

    If you sleep with pets, the microbial party gets even livelier. Animals introduce extra hair, dander, dirt and sometimes faecal traces into your sheets and blankets, increasing the frequency at which you should be washing them.



    Read more:
    There are benefits to sharing a bed with your pet — as long as you’re scrupulously clean

    So, how often should you wash your bedding?

    Sheets and pillowcases

    • When: Weekly, or every three to four days if you’ve been ill, sweat heavily, or share your bed with pets.

    • Why: To remove sweat, oils, microbes, allergens and dead skin cells.

    • How: Wash at 60°C or higher with detergent to kill bacteria and dust mites. For deeper sanitisation, tumble dry or iron. To target dust mites inside pillows, freeze for at least 8 hours.

    Mattresses

    • When: Vacuum at least weekly and air the mattress every few days.

    • Why: Sweat increases moisture levels, creating a breeding ground for mites.

    • Tips: Use a plastic or allergen-proof mattress protector and replace the mattress every seven years to maintain hygiene and support.

    Pillow interiors

    Blankets and duvet covers

    • When: Every two weeks, or more often if pets sleep on them.

    • Why: They trap skin cells, sweat and allergens.

    • How: Wash at 60°C or as high as the care label allows. Some guidance recommends treating these like towels: regular and hot washes keep them hygienic.

    Duvets

    • When: Every three to four months, depending on usage and whether pets or children share your bed.

    • Why: Even with a cover, body oils and mites eventually seep into the filling.

    • How: Check the label: many duvets are machine-washable, others may require professional cleaning.

    Your bed may look clean – but it’s teeming with microbes, allergens, mites and irritants that build up fast. Washing your bedding isn’t just about keeping things fresh; it’s a matter of health.

    Regular laundering removes the biological soup of sweat, skin, dust and microbes, which helps to reduce allergic reactions, prevent infections and keep odours at bay. And as research continues to show the profound effect of sleep on everything from heart health to mental clarity, a hygienic sleep environment is a small but powerful investment in your wellbeing.

    So go ahead – strip the bed. Wash those sheets. Freeze your pillows. Your microbes (and your sinuses) will thank you.

    Sweet dreams – and happy laundering.

    Primrose Freestone 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. How often should you really be washing your bedding? A microbiologist explains – https://theconversation.com/how-often-should-you-really-be-washing-your-bedding-a-microbiologist-explains-256516

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Why snappy dogs, scratchy cats, and hungry worms were part of a medieval woman’s vision of the afterlife

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Diane Watt, Professor of English, University of Surrey

    Detail from The Mouth of Hell in The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (1440). The Morgan Library & Museum

    The afterlife is not typically associated with aggressive pets and insatiable worms. But these are exactly the creatures that appeared to an unnamed woman recluse living in Winchester, England, over the course of three nights in the summer of 1422. The woman was an anchoress. That means she had chosen – and subsequently vowed – to live in solitary confinement within a small cell attached to a church for the rest of her life.

    The recluse wrote a vivid account of her vision and sent it to her confessor and a circle of influential churchmen. Her letter, known today as A Revelation of Purgatory, makes her one of the earliest known women writers in the English language.

    Despite deserving this accolade, the Winchester recluse did not appear alongside her more famous contemporaries or near contemporaries, Julian of Norwich (1342 – after 1416) and Margery Kempe (circa  1373 – after 1438), in the British Library’s hugely successful recent exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words. One likely reason for this is that the manuscript copy of the full account of the vision was not available for display at the time. That situation has now changed.

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    The British Library has just announced the purchase of five medieval manuscripts from Longleat House in Wiltshire. One of these manuscripts contains the complete surviving version of the recluse’s letter, which, although referred to in an incomplete version elsewhere as “a revelation recently shown to a holy woman”, is untitled in this particular manuscript. This may be another reason for this woman’s writing having been overlooked until very recently. This exciting purchase will hopefully now give the Winchester recluse and her writing the attention they deserve.

    Angels feeding souls through a purgatorial furnace in the 15th century manuscript Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.
    Wikimedia Commons

    In her vivid, technicolor visions, the recluse watched a dead friend, a nun named Margaret, ushered to the forefront of purgatory by a cat and dog that she had adored and pampered when she was alive.

    Transformed into vicious satanic minions, Margaret’s former pets joined the many devils responsible for doling out her punishments. They tore endlessly at her flesh and bit and scratched her relentlessly. They did so to remind her that, as a nun, she had broken her vows by keeping them as her companions in her nunnery and by devoting too much love and attention to them.

    In Margaret’s heart, too, a voracious little worm had taken up residence – a so-called “worm of conscience” – that was intent on consuming her from the inside out as part of her torment.



    Read more:
    Cats in the middle ages: what medieval manuscripts teach us about our ancestors’ pets

    So deeply troubling was this vision of her friend’s suffering that the Winchester recluse immediately summoned her young maid, and the two women started to pray for the nun’s soul. On the very next day the recluse decided there was nothing for it but to document her visions of Margaret’s fate. She not only detailed all she had seen, but also stipulated which prayers, and how many, should be said on behalf of poor Margaret to deliver her from her suffering and help her reach the gates of heaven.

    The recluse’s letter is very specific about the date of these visions: they took place on St Lawrence’s day, August 10 1322, which fell on a Sunday that year. There was – and still is – a small church dedicated to this saint very close to the cathedral in Winchester (the so-called Mother Church of Winchester).

    As an anchoress, the author would almost certainly have occupied a cell attached to a church somewhere in Winchester. This would also have allowed her the time and the space for contemplation, study and writing.



    Read more:
    Dogs in the middle ages: what medieval writing tells us about our ancestors’ pets

    As has been argued in a recent blog and podcast for the University of Surrey’s Mapping Medieval Women Writers project, it is quite possible that the Church of St Lawrence was the location of her cell, where she experienced her visions, and where she wrote down her account of them.

    This manuscript now permanently joins an unparalleled collection of medieval women’s writing in England held in the British Library. It includes not only The Book of Margery Kempe, manuscripts of both the short and long texts of Julian of Norwich’s Revelations, but also the Lais and Fables of Marie de France, the Boke of Saints Albans attributed to Juliana Berners, and the letters of the 15th-century Norfolk gentlewoman Margaret Paston and other female family members.

    As such, the work of this unnamed Winchester anchoress now takes up its rightful place alongside the writing of her hitherto better-known literary sisters.

    Diane Watt has received funding from the AHRC, British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.

    Liz Herbert McAvoy received funding for an associated project from the Leverhulme Trust.

    Amy Louise Morgan 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 snappy dogs, scratchy cats, and hungry worms were part of a medieval woman’s vision of the afterlife – https://theconversation.com/why-snappy-dogs-scratchy-cats-and-hungry-worms-were-part-of-a-medieval-womans-vision-of-the-afterlife-259409

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: ‘Pylon wars’ show why big energy plans need locals on board

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Simone Abram, Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Director of Durham Energy Institute, Durham University

    David Iliff / shutterstock

    Thousands of new electricity pylons are to be built across parts of England under the government’s plans to decarbonise the electricity. And some people aren’t happy.

    A glance at recent Daily Telegraph articles seem to suggest most of the genteel English countryside is about to be taken over by evil metal monsters. Headlines talk of “noisy” pylons set to “scythe through” “unspoiled countryside”, leading to a “pylon penalty” for house prices and even “mass social unrest”.

    While some of the stories are rather over the top, they reflect a genuine unease, and there have been significant campaigns against pylons. In Suffolk, for instance, resistance is building against plans for a 114-mile-long transmission line connecting new offshore wind farms to Norwich and beyond.

    So why do these towering steel structures evoke such powerful feelings?

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    Pylons have had a particular fascination since they were first introduced in the 1920s. Even then, the biggest challenge was to get “wayleaves” (permission) to cross farmland. To calm rural protest groups, the government’s electricity board commissioned an architect, Reginald Blomfield, to design transmission towers with an eye to “visual amenity”.

    Pylon cleaning, 1946.
    Smith Archive / Alamy

    In the most protected areas, expensive underground cabling was used to hide the transmission lines altogether. The board used its copious marketing materials to emphasise that this option was around six times more expensive, and therefore only for exceptional use. By the 1940s pylons were much cheaper than underground cables, providing a techno-economic rationale that remains politically persuasive today.

    Why we love the countryside

    One reason pylons are so controversial is related to a particularly English fascination with landscape. The geographer David Matless wrote some years ago of the “powerful historical connection” between Englishness and a vision of its countryside. People feel a degree of ownership over a varied landscape, encompassing lowland and upland, north and south, picturesque and bleak, and often have strong opinions about what “fits”, what constitutes “heritage” and what is “out of place”.

    Even if most of England is privately owned and commercially farmed, many people still imagine the land as a public good tied to national sentiments and see pylons as intruders in the landscape.

    Intruders? Pylons in England’s Peak District.
    Martin Charles Hatch / shutterstock

    This could also explain why proposals to build infrastructure across the English countryside often provoke significant objections. My research on planning in the Home Counties (the areas surrounding London) back in the 1990s revealed a very determined population of well-educated and well-resourced people willing to spend significant amounts of time and money ensuring that the landscape met their expectations.

    Concerted efforts had seen off a proposal from the then Conservative government to build a motorway through the Chiltern Hills to the west of London, for example.

    There were, and still are, innumerable village groups willing to turn up to public enquiries and to pay lawyers to launch appeals and legal challenges. They may have been sceptical of the more grungy road protesters (historically embodied by the indomitable Swampy), but there was certainly common purpose.

    My conclusion at the time was never to underestimate the effectiveness of local action where people’s vision of the English countryside was challenged. More recently, plans to run the HS2 rail line through those same hills ran into fierce local opposition, which prompted significant redesigns.

    That’s all well and good, but today we face catastrophic climate change and biodiversity loss. Wind turbines are one of the most effective ways to decarbonise electricity supplies, but they are in different places from the old coal and gas power stations. Ironically, the same love of landscape that pushed wind farms out to sea now fuels opposition to the cables that bring the power back to land.

    Democratic decisions?

    One of the challenges here is that decisions over things like high-voltage transmission lines are based on models that seek to “optimise” the design of equipment, on the basis of cost or effectiveness, or both. These models have no way to account for landscape and heritage value or aesthetics and should never be the sole basis for decisions about infrastructure.

    Running pylons across Suffolk might be the cheapest route with least electrical loss, but is it the best option? What would the alternatives be? Starting the discussion from the basis of techno-economic modelling often preempts a properly balanced debate.

    This isn’t an argument for or against big pylons. It’s a call for more democratic planning and not less.

    Studies consistently show that people resent being excluded from decisions that reshape their landscape and environment. Planning is a political process, and in any such process, humiliating your opponent rarely leads to long-term harmony.

    Top down decisions about “national infrastructure” may save time on paper but are not a good way to make progress. It appears autocratic and shifts objectors onto the streets or into the courts.

    Real consultation takes time and effort. But it builds trust and leads to better outcomes.

    Maybe pylons are the least-worst option. Maybe not. But we won’t know unless we ask – and listen.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Simone Abram receives funding from EPSRC for research on integrated energy systems and equality, diversity and inclusion in energy research. She received funding from the Norwegian Research Council for research on socially-inclusive energy transitions. Her Chair is co-funded by Ørsted UK but she does not represent the company in any way and any views expressed here remain independent.

    – ref. ‘Pylon wars’ show why big energy plans need locals on board – https://theconversation.com/pylon-wars-show-why-big-energy-plans-need-locals-on-board-258877

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: What research on sexting reveals about how men and women think about consent

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rikke Amundsen, Lecturer in Digital Media and Culture , King’s College London

    Nicoleta Ionescu/Shutterstock

    Sexting – the creating and exchanging of sexual texts, photos and videos – has become part of many people’s sexual and romantic lives. In an age where interpersonal relations often take place through digital technology, particularly since the pandemic, understanding sexting can help us better understand intimacy.

    Discussions around this topic inevitably involve concerns about sexual consent, and violation of it. One frequent concern is the risk of intimate image abuse, where private sexual images are shared without the consent of the person depicted. Another is the risk of receiving unsolicited or non-consensual “dick pics”.

    These violations can and do affect people of any gender identity. But research suggests that both types of violation particularly affect girls and women, who are more likely to be victims of the non-consensual further sharing of intimate images and to receive unsolicited dick pics. Girls are also more likely than boys to report feeling pressured into sending nudes or other sexual content.

    In my research, I have explored how men and women experience and navigate consent when sexting in heterosexual relationships.

    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.

    I have found that consent is central to the sexting practices of both women and men, but that they approach it differently. Overall, the women I spoke to were most concerned about the risk of having their consent violated. The men, on the other hand, were more worried about the risk of accidentally violating the consent of the person they were sexting with.

    Women’s experiences

    Between June 2016 and February 2017, I interviewed 44 women about their use of digital media and technology in their romantic and sexual relations. A core part of this involved discussion about their experiences of sexting. Our conversations focused especially on their experiences of sexting with men, and on their notions of intimacy, risk and trust.

    My participants primarily saw mitigating the risk of intimate image abuse as an individual responsibility. In other words, these women saw themselves as responsible for ensuring that their consent was not violated by a sexting partner.

    They reflected on the importance of women taking charge to protect themselves. For example, by not placing their trust in the “wrong” kind of person when sexting. Many employed tactics to reduce risk, from not showing their face in an image, to establishing close connections with the friends and family of their sexting partner.

    As one participant in her mid-20s explained: “I do try to meet their family and friends beforehand, just so, if anything does happen, I can kind of go and tell his mum.”

    Just as the women focused on their individual responsibility for reducing risk, they also understood men as individually responsible for the sexism of sending unsolicited dick pics. Overall, they saw it as an issue of some men behaving badly, rather than part of a broader, systemic issue. This view differs from that of scholars in this area, who have linked non-consensual dick pics to wider misogyny and social issues like rape culture.

    Men’s experiences

    The 15 interviews I conducted with men took place between May 2022 and May 2023, five years after the interviews with women. During these intervening years, the #MeToo movement gained global reach. This movement raised awareness about the widespread, social and structural issues that lead to sexual consent violations and abuse of power in sexual relations.

    This research, the findings of which will be published in a forthcoming book chapter, coincided with what many have recognised as a backlash to #MeToo. This backlash (in politics, entertainment and wider society) has manifested in, for example, the advance of the manosphere and crackdowns on sexual and reproductive rights.

    Only one participant mentioned #MeToo specifically, noting its role in putting sexual consent on the agenda. However, it was clear that the rapidly changing and tumultuous social and political landscape regarding sexual consent informed the mens’ experiences.

    One participant in his late thirties stressed how an interest in consent was what made him want to participate in an interview. He said: “I’ve grown up through a period where … understanding about consent has changed a lot. Men of my age … I just think we’re very ill prepared for the expectations of modern society.”

    My women participants had been most concerned to protect themselves from having their consent violated. But the men appeared to be most worried about the possibility that they might violate a woman’s consent by not having ensured sexual consent when sexting.

    Some participants struggled with managing what they understood as conflicting messages regarding women’s expectations of men when sexting. For some, it meant avoiding sexting they saw as “risky”. For others, it meant continuously establishing consent by checking in with a partner.

    Moving forward

    Overall, my interviews revealed that both men and women take consent seriously, and are eager to prevent its violation.

    This is something I explored further in workshops with other researchers, relevant charities and stakeholders. Our discussions, summarised in the Consent in Digital Sexual Cultures report, stress the importance of creating room (for young men especially) to explore ideas around consent without worrying about social repercussions.

    Charities like Beyond Equality and Fumble are already creating spaces for such discussions in their meetings with young people at school, in the university and online. We also need to see more of these discussions taking place in the home, at government level and through collaboration with tech companies.

    Navigating consent in sexual relationships has long been a fraught task for many. Digital technology has created new opportunities for sexual interaction, but also for the violation of consent. We need spaces for dialogue, to help us figure out – together – what good sexual consent practice is and should look like, for everyone involved.

    Rikke Amundsen has received a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant with reference number
    SRG2223230389. This grant covered the costs of the research outlined in the Consent in Digital Sexual Cultures Report.

    – ref. What research on sexting reveals about how men and women think about consent – https://theconversation.com/what-research-on-sexting-reveals-about-how-men-and-women-think-about-consent-254760

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Wimbledon and British Open competitors aren’t the only ones at risk of these common elbow injuries

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dan Baumgardt, Senior Lecturer, School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol

    Even those who don’t play sports are at risk of tennis elbow. didesign021/ Shutterstock

    Professional athletes from around the world spend years training to compete in some of the UK’s biggest summer sporting tournaments: Wimbledon and the British Open. But not all tournament hopefuls will make it to the finals — and some may even be forced to drop out due to a variety of sporting injuries, from torn anterior cruciates to strained shoulders.

    Their elbows are at risk too. In fact, two of the most common reasons for elbow pain relate to sporting injuries — the aptly named (and dreaded) tennis and golfer’s elbow.

    But it isn’t just professional athletes who are at risk of developing these common elbow injuries. Even those of us sitting on the sidelines or watching from our couches can find ourselves struck down by them – even if we don’t participate in either of these sports.

    In general practice, we see patients with elbow conditions fairly frequently. Elbows can become swollen as a result of repetitive strain, gout and can be fractured by a fall.

    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.

    Tennis and golfer’s elbow are also common reasons people visit their GP. Both share root causes, arising from inflammation and degeneration of the forearm tendons, which attach either side of the elbow. These typically cause pain on the sides of the joint, which can radiate down the affected side toward the wrist. Establishing which side is injured is crucial to diagnosis.

    The reason these conditions are associated with sports is because of the actions that are typical when playing them – the same actions which can result in injury.

    Take tennis and one of its killer moves: a lethal backhand stroke, which was part of the tournament-winning arsenal of champions such as Roger Federer, Justine Henin and Stan Wawrinka. Tennis elbow seems to be more strongly associated with the one-handed backhand, affecting the outer side of the elbow.

    The cause of tennis elbow can be pinpointed to a poor technique in the backhand stroke or grip. Problems with equipment, such as an incorrectly strung or a too-heavy racquet, might also exacerbate the problem.

    Notably, this problem is actually observed less frequently in professional players compared to recreational players. This is probably because of their expertise, form and access to the best equipment and physiotherapy.

    Golfer’s elbow refers to pain on the inner side, closest to the body. One action that can cause it is the golfer’s swing, where the player contracts their arm muscles to control the trajectory of the club. Doing so with poor technique or incorrect grip can irritate and damage the tendons. The golfer’s swing uses different muscles to a backhand stroke, so the injury occurs on the opposite side of the elbow.

    Both conditions have some overlapping symptoms despite affecting different tendons. For instance, some patients may note pain when using their wrist – such as turning a doorknob or shaking someone’s hand. It can be also be present at rest too – affecting other simple functions, such as using a keyboard.

    Tennis elbow is around five to ten times more common than golfer’s elbow, since these tendons are used more frequently in sport and daily life.

    Confusingly, the conditions are actually not exclusive to these sports. Some golfers can develop tennis elbow, while some tennis players can develop golfer’s elbow. This is because both games feature a combination of techniques that can affect the tendons on either side.

    Other sports that might also lead to a similar type of elbow injury include throwing sports (such as javelin), and batting or other racket sports – including baseball, cricket or squash. Weightlifting moves such as deadlifts, rows and overhead presses can also put considerable strain on the elbows too.

    Construction workers may be at particular risk of developing tennis or golfer’s elbow.
    PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/ Shutterstock

    You can even develop golfer’s or tennis elbow without taking part in either of these sports. Certain hobbies and occupations which strain or damage the tendons come into play here. Workers who are heavy lifters or use vibrating machinery, such as carpenters, sheet metal workers or pneumatic drill operators, are prime candidates.

    Treating a sore elbow

    If you develop golfer’s or tennis elbow, standard protocol is to “rice” – rest, ice, compress and elevate. Painkillers such as paracetamol and ibuprofen can also help. In many cases, symptoms resolve themselves within a few weeks.

    Depending on the severity of the injury, you may also be sent to physiotherapy or given an elbow support or splint. For really severe cases that aren’t getting better with the usual remedies, more invasive treatment is needed.

    Steroid injections into the affected area can act to reduce inflammation – but have variable effects, working better for some patients than for others.

    Autologous blood injection is a therapy where blood is taken from the patient and then re-injected into the space around the elbow. The thought behind this rather odd-sounding treatment is that the blood induces healing within the damaged tendon. The method is now undergoing a renaissance – and a variation of it, which uses platelet-rich plasma derived from the blood sample.

    Surgery is possible, too – but is generally reserved for severe, non-responsive cases or those where a clear anatomical problem (such as damaged tendons or tissue) are causing the symptoms.

    Whether or not you’re a tennis or golf pro, persistent elbow pain isn’t normal. It’s best to speak to your doctor to figure out the cause so you can get back to the court or putting green.

    Dan Baumgardt 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. Wimbledon and British Open competitors aren’t the only ones at risk of these common elbow injuries – https://theconversation.com/wimbledon-and-british-open-competitors-arent-the-only-ones-at-risk-of-these-common-elbow-injuries-260337

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Welcome to post-growth Europe – can anyone accept this new political reality?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Peter Bloom, Professor of Management, University of Essex

    TSViPhoto/Shutterstock

    Across much of Europe, the engines of economic growth are sputtering. In its latest global outlook, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sharply downgraded its forecasts for the UK and Europe, warning that the continent faces persistent economic bumps in the road.

    Globally, the World Bank recently said this decade is likely to be the weakest for growth since the 1960s. “Outside of Asia, the developing world is becoming a development-free zone,” the bank’s chief economist warned.

    The UK economy went into reverse in April 2025, shrinking by 0.3%. The announcement came a day after the UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered her spending review to the House of Commons with a speech that mentioned the word “growth” nine times – including promising “a Growth Mission Fund to expedite local projects that are important for growth”:

    I said that we wanted growth in all parts of Britain – and, Mr Speaker, I meant it.

    Across Europe, a long-term economic forecast to 2040 predicted annual growth of just 0.9% over the next 15 years – down from 1.3% in the decade before COVID. And this forecast was in December 2024, before Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policies had reignited trade tensions between the US and Europe (and pretty much everywhere else in the world).

    Even before Trump’s tariffs, the reality was clear to many economic experts. “Europe’s tragedy”, as one columnist put it, is that it is “deeply uncompetitive, with poor productivity, lagging in technology and AI, and suffering from regulatory overload”. In his 2024 report on European (un)competitiveness, Mario Draghi – former president of the European Central Bank (and then, briefly, Italy’s prime minister) – warned that without radical policy overhauls and investment, Europe faces “a slow agony” of relative decline.

    To date, the typical response of electorates has been to blame the policymakers and replace their governments at the first opportunity. Meanwhile, politicians of all shades whisper sweet nothings about how they alone know how to find new sources of growth – most commonly, from the magic AI tree. Because growth, with its widely accepted power to deliver greater productivity and prosperity, remains a key pillar in European politics, upheld by all parties as the benchmark of credibility, progress and control.

    But what if the sobering truth is that growth is no longer reliably attainable – across Europe at least? Not just this year or this decade but, in any meaningful sense, ever?

    The Insights section is committed to high-quality longform journalism. Our editors work with academics from many different backgrounds who are tackling a wide range of societal and scientific challenges.

    For a continent like Europe – with limited land and no more empires to exploit, ageing populations, major climate concerns and electorates demanding ever-stricter barriers to immigration – the conditions that once underpinned steady economic expansion may no longer exist. And in the UK more than most European countries, these issues are compounded by high levels of long-term sickness, early retirement and economic inactivity among working-age adults.

    As the European Parliament suggested back in 2023, the time may be coming when we are forced to look “beyond growth” – not because we want to, but because there is no other realistic option for many European nations.

    But will the public ever accept this new reality? As an expert in how public policy can be used to transform economies and societies, my question is not whether a world without growth is morally superior or more sustainable (though it may be both). Rather, I’m exploring if it’s ever possible for political parties to be honest about a “post-growth world” and still get elected – or will voters simply turn to the next leader who promises they know the secret of perpetual growth, however sketchy the evidence?

    Which way is the right way?
    Pixelvario/Shutterstock

    What drives growth?

    To understand why Europe in particular is having such a hard time generating economic growth, first we need to understand what drives it – and why some countries are better placed than others in terms of productivity (the ability to keep their economy growing).

    Economists have a relatively straightforward answer. At its core, growth comes from two factors: labour and capital (machinery, technology and the like). So, for your economy to grow, you either need more people working (to make more stuff), or the same amount of workers need to become more productive – by using better machines, tools and technologies.

    The first issue is labour. Europe’s working-age population is, for the most part, shrinking fast. Thanks to decades of declining birth rates (linked with rising life expectancy and higher incomes), along with increasing resistance to immigration, many European countries face declines in their working population. “”). Rural and urban regions of Europe alike are experiencing structural ageing and depopulation trends that make traditional economic growth ever harder to achieve.

    Historically, population growth has gone hand-in-hand with economic expansion. In the postwar years, countries such as France, Germany and the UK experienced booming birth rates and major waves of immigration. That expanding labour force fuelled industrial production, consumer demand and economic growth.

    Why does economic growth matter? Video: Bank of England.

    Ageing populations not only reduce the size of the active labour force, they place more pressure on health and other public services, as well as pension systems. Some regions have attempted to compensate with more liberal migration policies, but public resistance to immigration is strong – reflected in increased support for rightwing and populist parties that advocate for stricter immigration controls.

    While the UK’s median age is now over 40, it has a birthrate advantage over countries such as Germany and Italy, thanks largely to the influx of immigrants from its former colonies in the second half of the 20th century. But whether this translates into meaningful and sustainable growth depends heavily on labour market participation and the quality of investment – particularly in productivity-enhancing sectors like green technology, infrastructure and education – all of which remain uncertain.

    If Europe can’t rely on more workers, then to achieve growth, its existing workers must become more productive. And here, we arrive at the second half of the equation: capital. The usual hope is that investments in new technologies – particularly AI as it drives a new wave of automation – will make up the difference.

    In January, the UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, called AI “the defining opportunity of our generation” while announcing he had agreed to take forward all 50 recommendations set out in an independent AI action plan. Not to be outdone, the European Commission unveiled its AI continent action plan in April.

    But Europe is also falling behind in the global race to harness the economic potential of AI, trailing both the US and China. The US, in particular, has surged ahead in developing and deploying AI tools across sectors such as healthcare, finance, manufacturing and logistics, while China has leveraged its huge state-supported, open-source industrial policy to scale its digital economy.

    Keir Starmer announces the UK’s AI action plan. Video: BBC.

    Despite the EU’s concerted efforts to enhance its digital competitiveness, a 2024 McKinsey report found that US corporations invested around €700 billion more in capital expenditure and R&D, in 2022 alone than their European counterparts, underscoring the continent’s investment gap. And where AI is adopted, it tends to concentrate gains in a few superstar companies or cities.

    In fact, this disconnect between firm-level innovation and national growth is one of the defining features of the current era. Tech clusters in cities like Paris, Amsterdam and Stockholm may generate unicorn startups and record-breaking valuations, but they’re not enough to move the needle on GDP growth across Europe as a whole. The gains are often too narrow, the spillovers too weak and the social returns too uneven.

    Yet admitting this publicly remains politically taboo. Can any European leader look their citizens in the eye and say: “We’re living in a post-growth world”? Or rather, can they say it and still hope to win another election?

    The human need for growth

    To be human is to grow – physically, psychologically, financially; in the richness of our relationships, imagination and ambitions. Few people would be happy with the prospect of being consigned to do the same job for the same money for the rest of their lives – as the collapse of the Soviet Union demonstrated. Which makes the prospect of selling a post-growth future to people sound almost inhuman.

    Even those who care little about money and success usually strive to create better futures for themselves, their families and communities. When that sense of opportunity and forward motion is absent or frustrated, it can lead to malaise, disillusionment and in extreme cases, despair.

    The health consequences of long-term economic decline are increasingly described as “diseases of despair” – rising rates of suicide, substance abuse and alcohol-related deaths concentrated in struggling communities. Recessions reliably fuel psychological distress and demand for mental healthcare, as seen during the eurozone crisis when Greece experienced surging levels of depression and declining self-rated health, particularly among the unemployed – with job loss, insecurity and austerity all contributing to emotional suffering and social fragmentation.

    These trends don’t just affect the vulnerable; even those who appear relatively secure often experience “anticipatory anxiety” – a persistent fear of losing their foothold and slipping into instability. In communities, both rural and urban, that are wrestling with long-term decline, “left-behind” residents often describe a deep sense of abandonment by governments and society more generally – prompting calls for recovery strategies that address despair not merely as a mental health issue, but as a wider economic and social condition.

    The belief in opportunity and upward mobility – long embodied in US culture by “the American dream” – has historically served as a powerful psychological buffer, fostering resilience and purpose even amid systemic barriers. However, as inequality widens and while career opportunities for many appear to narrow, research shows the gap between aspiration and reality can lead to disillusionment, chronic stress and increased psychological distress – particularly among marginalised groups. These feelings are only intensified in the age of social media, where constant exposure to curated success stories fuels social comparison and deepens the sense of falling behind.

    For younger people in the UK and many parts of Europe, the fact that so much capital is tied up in housing means opportunity depends less on effort or merit and more on whether their parents own property – meaning they could pass some of its value down to their children.

    ‘Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism’, a discussion hosted by LSE Online.

    Stagnation also manifests in more subtle but no less damaging ways. Take infrastructure. In many countries, the true cost of flatlining growth has been absorbed not through dramatic collapse but quiet decay.

    Across the UK, more than 1.5 million children are learning in crumbling school buildings, with some forced into makeshift classrooms for years after being evacuated due to safety concerns. In healthcare, the total NHS repair backlog has reached £13.8 billion, leading to hundreds of critical incidents – from leaking roofs to collapsing ceilings – and the loss of vital clinical time.

    Meanwhile, neglected government buildings across the country are affecting everything from prison safety to courtroom access, with thousands of cases disrupted due to structural failures and fire safety risks. These are not headlines but lived realities – the hidden toll of underinvestment, quietly hollowing out the state behind a veneer of functionality.

    Without economic growth, governments face a stark dilemma: to raise revenues through higher taxes, or make further rounds of spending cuts. Either path has deep social and political implications – especially for inequality. The question becomes not just how to balance the books but how to do so fairly – and whether the public might support a post-growth agenda framed explicitly around reducing inequality, even if it also means paying more taxes.

    In fact, public attitudes suggest there is already widespread support for reducing inequality. According to the Equality Trust, 76% of UK adults agree that large wealth gaps give some people too much political power.

    Research by the Sutton Trust finds younger people especially attuned to these disparities: only 21% of 18 to 24-year-olds believe everyone has the same chance to succeed and 57% say it’s harder for their generation to get ahead. Most believe that coming from a wealthy family (75%) and knowing the right people (84%) are key to getting on in life.

    In a post-growth world, higher taxes would not only mean wealthier individuals and corporations contributing a relatively greater share, but the wider public shifting consumption patterns, spending less on private goods and more collectively through the state. But the recent example of France shows how challenging this tightope is to walk.

    In September 2024, its former prime minister, Michel Barnier, signalled plans for targeted tax increases on the wealthy, arguing these were essential to stabilise the country’s strained public finances. While politically sensitive, his proposals for tax increases on wealthy individuals and large firms initially passed without widespread public unrest or protests.

    However, his broader austerity package – encompassing €40 billion (£34.5 billion) in spending cuts alongside €20 billion in tax hikes – drew vocal opposition from both left‑wing lawmakers and the far right, and contributed to parliament toppling his minority government in December 2024.

    In the UK, the pressure on government finances (heightened both by Brexit and COVID) has seen a combination of “stealth” tax rises – notably, the ongoing freeze on income tax thresholds, which quietly drags more earners into higher tax bands – and more visible increases, such as the rise in employer National Insurance contributions. At the same time, the UK government moved to cut benefits in its spring statement, increasing financial pressure on lower-income households.

    Such measures surely mark the early signs of a deeper financial reckoning that post-growth realities will force into the open: how to sustain public services when traditional assumptions about economic expansion can no longer be relied upon.

    For the traditional parties, the political heat is on. Regions most left behind by structural economic shifts are increasingly drawn to populist and anti-establishment movements. Electoral outcomes have shown a significant shift, with far-right parties such as France’s National Rally and Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) making substantial gains in the 2024 European parliament elections, reflecting a broader trend of rising support for populist and anti-establishment parties across the continent.

    Voters are expressing growing dissatisfaction not only with the economy, but democracy itself. This sentiment has manifested through declining trust in political institutions, as evidenced by a Forsa survey in Germany where only 16% of respondents expressed confidence in their government and 54% indicated they didn’t trust any party to solve the country’s problems.

    This brings us to the central dilemma: can any European politician successfully lead a national conversation which admits the economic assumptions of the past no longer hold? Or is attempting such honesty in politics inevitably a path to self-destruction, no matter how urgently the conversation is needed?

    Facing up to a new economic reality

    For much of the postwar era, economic life in advanced democracies has rested on a set of familiar expectations: that hard work would translate into rising incomes, that home ownership would be broadly attainable and that each generation would surpass the prosperity of the one before it.

    However, a growing body of evidence suggests these pillars of economic life are eroding. Younger generations are already struggling to match their parents’ earnings, with lower rates of home ownership and greater financial precarity becoming the norm in many parts of Europe.

    Incomes for millennials and generation Z have largely stagnated relative to previous cohorts, even as their living costs – particularly for housing, education and healthcare – have risen sharply. Rates of intergenerational income mobility have slowed significantly across much of Europe and North America since the 1970s. Many young people now face the prospect not just of static living standards, but of downward mobility.

    Effectively communicating the realities of a post-growth economy – including the need to account for future generations’ growing sense of alienation and declining faith in democracy – requires more than just sound policy. It demands a serious political effort to reframe expectations and rebuild trust.

    History shows this is sometimes possible. When the National Health Service was founded in 1948, the UK government faced fierce resistance from parts of the medical profession and concerns among the public about cost and state control. Yet Clement Attlee’s Labour government persisted, linking the creation of the NHS to the shared sacrifices of the war and a compelling moral vision of universal care.

    While taxes did rise to fund the service, the promise of a fairer, healthier society helped secure enduring public support – but admittedly, in the wake of the massive shock to the system that was the second world war.

    In 1946, Prime Minister Clement Attlee asked the UK public to help ‘renew Britain’. Video: British Pathé.

    Psychological research offers further insight into how such messages can be received. People are more receptive to change when it is framed not as loss but as contribution – to fairness, to community, to shared resilience. This underlines why the immediate postwar period was such a politically fruitful time to launch the NHS. The COVID pandemic briefly offered a sense of unifying purpose and the chance to rethink the status quo – but that window quickly closed, leaving most of the old structures intact and largely unquestioned.

    A society’s ability to flourish without meaningful national growth – and its citizens’ capacity to remain content or even hopeful in the absence of economic expansion – ultimately depends on whether any political party can credibly redefine success without relying on promises of ever-increasing wealth and prosperity. And instead, offer a plausible narrative about ways to satisfy our very human needs for personal development and social enrichment in this new economic reality.

    The challenge will be not only to find new economic models, but to build new sources of collective meaning. This moment demands not just economic adaptation but a political and cultural reckoning.

    If the idea of building this new consensus seems overly optimistic, studies of the “spiral of silence” suggest that people often underestimate how widely their views are shared. A recent report on climate action found that while most people supported stronger green policies, they wrongly assumed they were in the minority. Making shared values visible – and naming them – can be key to unlocking political momentum.

    So far, no mainstream European party has dared articulate a vision of prosperity that doesn’t rely on reviving growth. But with democratic trust eroding, authoritarian populism on the rise and the climate crisis accelerating, now may be the moment to begin that long-overdue conversation – if anyone is willing to listen.

    Welcome to Europe’s first ‘post-growth’ nation

    I’m imagining a European country in a decade’s time. One that no longer positions itself as a global tech powerhouse or financial centre, but the first major country to declare itself a “post-growth nation”.

    This shift didn’t come from idealism or ecological fervour, but from the hard reality that after years of economic stagnation, demographic change and mounting environmental stress, the pursuit of economic growth no longer offered a credible path forward.

    What followed wasn’t a revolution, but a reckoning – a response to political chaos, collapsing public services and widening inequality that sparked a broad coalition of younger voters, climate activists, disillusioned centrists and exhausted frontline workers to rally around a new, pragmatic vision for the future.

    At the heart of this movement was a shift in language and priorities, as the government moved away from promises of endless economic expansion and instead committed to wellbeing, resilience and equality – aligning itself with a growing international conversation about moving beyond GDP, already gaining traction in European policy circles and initiatives such as the EU-funded “post-growth deal”.

    But this transformation was also the result of years of political drift and public disillusionment, ultimately catalysed by electoral reform that broke the two-party hold and enabled a new alliance, shaped by grassroots organisers, policy innovators and a generation ready to reimagine what national success could mean.

    Taxes were higher, particularly on land, wealth and carbon. But in return, public services were transformed. Healthcare, education, transport, broadband and energy were guaranteed as universal rights, not privatised commodities. Work changed: the standard week was shortened to 30 hours and the state incentivised jobs in care, education, maintenance and ecological restoration. People had less disposable income – but fewer costs, too.

    Consumption patterns shifted. Hyper-consumption declined. Repair shops and sharing platforms flourished. The housing market was restructured around long-term security rather than speculative returns. A large-scale public housing programme replaced buy-to-let investment as the dominant model. Wealth inequality narrowed and cities began to densify as car use fell and public space was reclaimed.

    For the younger generation, post-growth life was less about climbing the income ladder and more about stability, time and relationships. For older generations, there were guarantees: pensions remained, care systems were rebuilt and housing protections were strengthened. A new sense of intergenerational reciprocity emerged – not perfectly, but more visibly than before.

    Politically, the transition had its risks. There was backlash – some of the wealthy left. But many stayed. And over time, the narrative shifted. This European country began to be seen not as a laggard but as a laboratory for 21st-century governance – a place where ecological realism and social solidarity shaped policy, not just quarterly targets.

    The transition was uneven and not without pain. Jobs were lost in sectors no longer considered sustainable. Supply chains were restructured. International competitiveness suffered in some areas. But the political narrative – carefully crafted and widely debated – made the case that resilience and equity were more important than temporary growth.

    While some countries mocked it, others quietly began to study it. Some cities – especially in the Nordics, Iberia and Benelux – followed suit, drawing from the growing body of research on post-growth urban planning and non-GDP-based prosperity metrics.



    Read more:
    Beyond GDP: changing how we measure progress is key to tackling a world in crisis – three leading experts

    This was not a retreat from ambition but a redefinition of it. The shift was rooted in a growing body of academic and policy work arguing that a planned, democratic transition away from growth-centric models is not only compatible with social progress but essential to preventing environmental and societal collapse.

    The country’s post-growth transition helped it sidestep deeper political fragmentation by replacing austerity with heavy investment in community resilience, care infrastructure and participatory democracy – from local budgeting to citizen-led planning. A new civic culture took root: slower and more deliberative but less polarised, as politics shifted from abstract promises of growth to open debates about real-world trade-offs.

    Internationally, the country traded some geopolitical power for moral authority, focusing less on economic competition and more on global cooperation around climate, tax justice and digital governance – earning new relevance among smaller nations pursuing their own post-growth paths.

    So is this all just a social and economic fantasy? Arguably, the real fantasy is believing that countries in Europe – and the parties that compete to run them – can continue with their current insistence on “growth at all costs” (whether or not they actually believe it).

    The alternative – embracing a post-growth reality – would offer the world something we haven’t seen in a long time: honesty in politics, a commitment to reducing inequality and a belief that a fairer, more sustainable future is still possible. Not because it was easy, but because it was the only option left.

    For you: more from our Insights series:

    To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. Subscribe to our newsletter.

    Peter Bloom 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. His latest book is Capitalism Reloaded: The Rise of the Authoritarian-Financial Complex (Bristol University Press).

    – ref. Welcome to post-growth Europe – can anyone accept this new political reality? – https://theconversation.com/welcome-to-post-growth-europe-can-anyone-accept-this-new-political-reality-257420

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Congratulating Cabo Verde on Fiftieth Anniversary, Secretary-General Recognizes Its ‘History Marked by Pain, Injustice, But Also by Solidarity’

    Source: United Nations 4

    Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks, delivered by Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, at the fiftieth anniversary of Cabo Verde and the fiftieth anniversary of its partnership with the United Nations, in Praia today:

    I am happy to be with you today on behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and I thank the Government and the people of Cabo Verde for your warm welcome and hospitality.  I am honoured to deliver his remarks on this historic occasion.

    It is with deep emotion that I send these words to a country I hold close to my heart.  As Secretary-General of the United Nations, as former Prime Minister of Portugal and as a long-time friend, I am honoured to mark this fiftieth anniversary of Cabo Verdean independence and partnership with the United Nations.

    Cabo Verde has shaped my conscience and conviction.  And I celebrate with you the enduring spirit of the povo cabo-verdiano — a people whose determination has long outshone the constraints of geography.

    The story of Cabo Verde is a story of freedom reclaimed.  On 5 July 1975, the world bore witness to the birth of a new republic.

    After centuries of colonial rule, the people of Cabo Verde — together with their brothers and sisters in Guinea-Bissau — rose up to demand self-determination.

    As a Portuguese citizen, I cannot speak of Cabo Verde without acknowledging the deep and complex history we share — a history marked by pain, injustice, but also by solidarity.

    I carry with me the memory of walking through the gates of the former Tarrafal concentration camp — in the company of Edmundo Pedro and Sérgio Vilarigues, who had endured its horrors.  Their stories of suffering and resistance are etched into my memory.

    Today, we honour so many heroes of that struggle — heroes like Amílcar Cabral.  Receiving the Order of Amílcar Cabral by Prime Minister Carlos Veiga remains one of the greatest honours of my life.

    From the beginning, Cabo Verde chose the harder path: Stability over strife.  Dialogue over division.  The peaceful transition to independence, the embrace of democracy and good governance.  A model that endures.

    Cabo Verde is also a wonder of geography.  Ten volcanic islands scattered across the Atlantic, bound by morabeza — that singular warmth and grace that define the Cabo Verdean soul.

    But, it is the people who truly set Cabo Verde apart.  A culture that is at once rooted and global, melancholic and joyful.

    This nation gave the world morna — a music of sodade, of longing for home across distant seas.  It brought us the timeless voice of Cesária Évora, who sang from Mindelo to the world — and made every listener feel a little closer to Cabo Verde.

    When Cabo Verde gained independence, many may have doubted. Yet, five decades later, you stand as a middle-income country and a champion of peace and equality.

    As Prime Minister of Portugal, I had the privilege of working closely with Cabo Verde to deepen our cooperation.  I recall with pride the signing of the Acordo de Cooperação Cambial — a monetary agreement that was more than a technical arrangement.

    It was a bridge between our economies, a symbol of trust and a recognition of Cabo Verde’s growing role on the global stage.  And through it all, you have remained true to your values.

    Welcoming migrants, upholding the rule of law and staying true to the principles of solidarity and open cooperation.  I saw these values in action during my last visit.

    At the port of Mindelo, I watched the sails of the Ocean Race rise against the horizon — a striking reminder of Cabo Verde’s openness, resolve and connection to the wider world.

    What stayed with me was not just the race, but the spirit onshore — young people learning, communities coming together, leaders thinking boldly about the future.  It reinforced what I have always felt:  Cabo Verde is not just navigating the tides of change — it is helping to chart the course. 

    And the United Nations has been honoured to journey with you. From the earliest development plans — schools, health systems and social protection, to our shared work on food security, disaster resilience and democratic institutions.

    From supporting the graduation from least developed country status, to cooperating on climate action, ocean conservation, biodiversity protection, renewable energy.  And advancing the multidimensional vulnerability index — a vital tool to reflect the unique challenges of small island developing countries.

    Together, we are exploring new frontiers:  the blue economy, digital inclusion and diaspora engagement.  And today, as we celebrate your past, we also recommit to your future.  A future shaped by resolve.  Cabo Verde knows, more than most, the realities of climate change.  Rising seas, droughts, external shocks.

    Your location also brings higher costs — for transport, for energy, for resilience.  But, you have turned water scarcity into a frontier of innovation.

    You are building climate resilience in your infrastructure and communities.  You are expanding clean energy.  You are leading on marine conservation.  And as co-lead of the Small Island Developing States Coalition for Nature, you are rallying global action to protect our planet’s most vulnerable ecosystems.

    You are showing the world that ocean stewardship is a responsibility.  And the world must match your determination with support — through climate finance, technology and fairer systems for small island developing States.

    Fifty years ago, Cabo Verde was born into freedom.  Today, it moves boldly into the future with ambitious plans grounded in the Sustainable Development Goals; with innovation in the blue economy, biodiversity and climate resilience; with empowered youth and inclusive growth; with leadership in regional affairs — from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the African Union; and with more regional integration — taking advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

    The people of Cabo Verde understand what it means to struggle — and to overcome.  To the povo cabo-verdiano, in every island and across the ocean:  This celebration belongs to you.

    As Secretary-General of the United Nations, I salute your journey.  As a friend, I rejoice in this moment and celebrate with you.  As a citizen of the world, I thank you — for your example, your partnership, your promise.

    May Cabo Verde forever shine:  As a light in the Atlantic.  A bridge between continents.  A country of hope and dreams.  Parabéns, Cabo Verde.  Long live the republic.  Long live your journey.  Long live your future.  Obrigado.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: WTW appoints Alena Kharkavets as Head of Claims in North America

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), a global advisory, broking and solutions company, today announced that Alena Kharkavets has been appointed North American Head of Claims in its Insurance Consulting and Technology (ICT) business.

    Kharkavets comes to WTW from Intact Financial Corporation (TSE: IFC), Canada’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance, where she held progressively senior roles and spent nearly twenty years building deep, end-to-end expertise in pricing, claims, underwriting, M&A, digital distribution and strategy.

    Kharkavets will work with clients to advance their claims analytics, embedding data science and AI into claims processes to create better claims outcomes for carriers and their customers. She will also collaborate on projects outside of claims, including leading on the provision of strategic advice to clients on the most effective use of data and analytics to improve decision making across their organizations.

    Laura Doddington, Head of Personal and Commercial Lines, North America, Insurance Consulting and Technology, WTW, said: “Alena is a recognized leader in insurance pricing and claims analytics and we are excited to have her join our team. Her deep expertise, technical skills and commitment to data-driven decision making will be major assets to our clients, as we continue to strengthen our position as the leading consulting and technology solutions provider for the insurance industry.”

    Alena Kharkavets said: “I am excited to be given the opportunity to work with WTW’s hugely experienced and talented ICT team. I look forward to harnessing and extending WTW’s market-leading technology capabilities and innovations to deliver solutions that generate exceptional value to our clients and build upon WTW’s reputation for excellence.”

    About WTW

    At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organisations sharpen their strategy, enhance organisational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximise performance.

    Working shoulder to shoulder with our clients, we uncover opportunities for sustainable success—and provide perspective that moves you.

    Learn more at wtwco.com.

    Media Contact
    Andrew Collis: +44 7932 725 267 | Andrew.Collis@wtwco.com

    Arnelle Sullivan: +1 (718) 208-0474 | Arnelle.Sullivan@wtwco.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: WTW appoints Alena Kharkavets as Head of Claims in North America

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), a global advisory, broking and solutions company, today announced that Alena Kharkavets has been appointed North American Head of Claims in its Insurance Consulting and Technology (ICT) business.

    Kharkavets comes to WTW from Intact Financial Corporation (TSE: IFC), Canada’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance, where she held progressively senior roles and spent nearly twenty years building deep, end-to-end expertise in pricing, claims, underwriting, M&A, digital distribution and strategy.

    Kharkavets will work with clients to advance their claims analytics, embedding data science and AI into claims processes to create better claims outcomes for carriers and their customers. She will also collaborate on projects outside of claims, including leading on the provision of strategic advice to clients on the most effective use of data and analytics to improve decision making across their organizations.

    Laura Doddington, Head of Personal and Commercial Lines, North America, Insurance Consulting and Technology, WTW, said: “Alena is a recognized leader in insurance pricing and claims analytics and we are excited to have her join our team. Her deep expertise, technical skills and commitment to data-driven decision making will be major assets to our clients, as we continue to strengthen our position as the leading consulting and technology solutions provider for the insurance industry.”

    Alena Kharkavets said: “I am excited to be given the opportunity to work with WTW’s hugely experienced and talented ICT team. I look forward to harnessing and extending WTW’s market-leading technology capabilities and innovations to deliver solutions that generate exceptional value to our clients and build upon WTW’s reputation for excellence.”

    About WTW

    At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organisations sharpen their strategy, enhance organisational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximise performance.

    Working shoulder to shoulder with our clients, we uncover opportunities for sustainable success—and provide perspective that moves you.

    Learn more at wtwco.com.

    Media Contact
    Andrew Collis: +44 7932 725 267 | Andrew.Collis@wtwco.com

    Arnelle Sullivan: +1 (718) 208-0474 | Arnelle.Sullivan@wtwco.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: First ARU Peterborough undergrads set to graduate

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    Peterborough’s historic cathedral is the venue for ARU Peterborough’s graduation ceremony on 11 July

    The first cohort of ARU Peterborough students to join the city’s new university in 2022 are preparing to celebrate their graduation this week, with many having already secured skilled jobs in the local area.

    Peterborough Cathedral will host this year’s graduation ceremony for ARU Peterborough students at 2pm on Friday, 11 July.

    Students who have studied undergraduate degrees, degree apprenticeships, postgraduate courses and professional development qualifications will cross the cathedral stage to mark the formal completion of their studies.

    “Congratulations to all our graduates on their success. This graduation ceremony marks a historic milestone for ARU Peterborough. It is a celebration of the achievements of our first cohort of students and reflects our mission to create opportunities, drive social mobility, and deliver high level skills tailored to local and national needs.

    “This graduation also signals the beginning of an exciting new chapter for our university and community, as we expand our academic offer with a range of new courses available to start this September.”

    Principal of ARU Peterborough, Professor Ross Renton

    The first graduation is a landmark moment for the city, which until the opening of ARU Peterborough, was known as a higher education “cold spot”. The university has provided opportunities for many students to develop their skills – opportunities they might not have had otherwise.

    James Johnson, 26, is to start work after graduation at local firm ParkAir as an Embedded Software Engineer. The Applied Computer Science graduate from Yaxley said: “It’s unlikely I would’ve attended university if it wasn’t for ARU Peterborough. I was 24 when I enrolled and going further afield wasn’t an option.

    “Finding a local job straight after graduation means a lot. At the start, I was a little uncertain if university was right for me. This proves going to ARU Peterborough was the right thing to do.”

    Faaizah Hussain, who lives in Peterborough and has studied for a BSc (Hons) degree in Accounting and Finance at ARU Peterborough, will give the Vote of Thanks speech at the graduation ceremony on 11 July.

    Faaizah, who has now enrolled on a Postgraduate Certificate in Education to become a teacher, said: “I had already secured an apprenticeship and hadn’t planned on going to university until I found out about ARU Peterborough. I wasn’t keen on moving away or commuting long distances, and I didn’t realise there was a university here until my mum came across an advert and told me about it.

    “Studying at ARU Peterborough has far exceeded my expectations. The one-to-one support has helped shape both my confidence and my character. University turned out to be so much more than I imagined – there wasn’t just academic guidance, there was genuine care from the tutors.

    “Throughout my time here, I’ve taken on so many different roles. I co-founded a student society, was elected as a student governor, became a course representative, and worked as a student ambassador, which I absolutely loved. ARU Peterborough really gives you the platform to grow and get involved in ways that make a lasting impact on not just your own student experience, but the university’s future as a whole.”

    Kazim Raffiq-Fazal, from Peterborough, has been a student ambassador during his computer science degree course and has just started a job at a Cambridgeshire software development company.

    Kazim, 20, said: “I did my A-levels here in Peterborough and I knew university would be the next step for me. I went to a few open days at other institutions but I knew I wanted to study close to where I was living. I went to an open day at ARU Peterborough, met some of the lecturers and saw what the course contained, and it was everything I was looking for.

    “I don’t think I would have had the same experience if I had gone to university elsewhere. Studying close to home has allowed me to spend less time commuting and I have been able to take part in more study and activities.

    “In my second year I did an internship at a software company and that led to an offer to work for them after I graduated.”

    ARU Peterborough is a partnership between Anglia Ruskin University, Peterborough City Council and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

    “Huge congratulations to the first ever graduates of ARU Peterborough. This is both a personal achievement for each student and a landmark moment for our city. 

    “ARU Peterborough is transforming lives, tackling the higher education cold spot we faced, and building a pipeline of talent that meets the needs of local businesses. It’s helping people gain the skills and confidence to succeed and thrive in our local economy. 

    “This day is another example of what can be achieved through ambition and partnership between the City Council, ARU and the Combined Authority. And it marks just the beginning of ARU Peterborough’s growing role in the city’s regeneration and success.” 

    Paul Bristow, Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

    “Firstly, a huge congratulations to all those who will be graduating on 11 July.

    “When the concept of ARU Peterborough was created, its vision was to teach skills businesses in Peterborough are calling out for – andfor these to be skills needed for careers of the future.

    “These are the very first set of graduates who will be leaving ‘job ready’. It will help ensure we retain our brightest and most hard working students, delivering confident and capable employees to our businesses and helping our city to flourish for years to come.”

    Councillor Nick Thulbourn, cabinet member for growth and regeneration at Peterborough City Council

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: High school science teacher and union activist from Illinois elected to NEA Executive Committee

    Source: US National Education Union

    PORTLAND, Ore.—A dedicated Illinois teacher and lifelong union activist will serve on the executive committee of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union. Bill Farmer, a high school science teacher from Evanston, Illinois, was elected by his union siblings at NEA’s Representative Assembly to serve on the organization’s influential and highest governing body. 

    As a classroom teacher for more than two decades, Farmer has dedicated his life’s work to organizing and advocating for students, public schools, and union members. As president of his local, he helped deliver big wins for educators—including lower health care costs and securing 12 weeks of paid parental leave—while keeping membership above 98% after the Supreme Court struck down agency fees.

    “Bill Farmer leads with his union values. His sharp organizing instincts and a deep commitment to public education have brought transformative change to his students, fellow educators, and his community,” said NEA President Becky Pringle. “As public schools face even more challenges, NEA members are mobilizing and speaking up because unions are made for moments like these. Bill’s deep organizing experience and unwavering commitment to racial and social justice will help power our movement forward and protect the rights of every educator and student.”

    Farmer led the Illinois Education Association’s efforts to overhaul legislative priorities with a focus on racial and social justice and helped design a more equitable dues structure based on income. Nationally, he has served on NEA’s Budget Committee, the Charter School Task Force and Safe, Just and Equitable Schools Task Force, and chaired the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Committee.

    “I believe in the collective power of educators to transform lives. It’s time to ignite our potential energy—and turn it into real change for our students and our union,” said Farmer. “I look forward to the opportunity to help support our members to organize for power back in their local communities to advocate for our students, strengthen our public schools, and uplift our professions. Our students deserve classrooms that embrace the value of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility so we can create a society where everyone can thrive.”

    Nearly 7,000 educators are in Portland, Oregon, for the 168th Annual Meeting and 104th RA, the organization’s top decision-making body, which sets Association policy for the coming year. Delegates will complete an agenda, which includes adopting a budget, electing executive committee members, and addressing new business items.

    For more information on NEA’s Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly, go to www.nea.org/ra

    Keep up with the conversation on social media at #NEARA

    Follow us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/neapresident.bsky.social and https://bsky.app/profile/neatoday.bsky.social  

    # # #

    The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, students preparing to become teachers, healthcare workers, and public employees. Learn more at www.nea.org.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: MiddleGround Capital Signs Definitive Agreement to Sell Arrow Tru-Line to the Chamberlain Group, a Blackstone Portfolio Company

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LEXINGTON, Ky., July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MiddleGround Capital (“MiddleGround”), an operationally focused private equity firm that makes control investments in North American and European headquartered middle-market B2B industrial and specialty distribution companies, today announced that it has entered a definitive agreement to sell its portfolio company Arrow Tru-Line (“ATL”), an independent manufacturer and supplier of structurally critical overhead garage door hardware components, to the Chamberlain Group, a global leader in intelligent access and monitoring with leading brands including LiftMaster and myQ.

    Arrow Tru-Line is the market-leading manufacturer and distributor of metal garage door components and hardware, serving OEMs, distributors and installers across North America. Originally founded in 1970 and headquartered in Archbold, Ohio, ATL manufactures a complete offering of essential hardware, including hinges, brackets, angles, tubes, springs and pre-assembled track sets through the processes of rollforming, stamping, assembling and sourcing products. The company, led by CEO Thomas Brockley, operates six manufacturing and distribution facilities across the U.S. and Canada.

    “Since we acquired Arrow Tru-Line in late 2021, Tom and the management team have done an exceptional job operating the business and positioning the company for the future, while preserving core manufacturing jobs that are so important for the US economy,” said John Stewart, Founding and Managing Partner of MiddleGround. “In partnership with our operations team, the management team has vertically integrated the business to drive further value for customers. Through the execution of operational improvements, the company has substantially improved free cash flow conversion and profitability. Additionally, we are excited to provide our investors with much-needed liquidity. The fact that we have been able to achieve such a positive outcome given the economic conditions of the last four years is a testament to our team and our investment strategy.”

    “We are very proud to have helped ATL improve its manufacturing capabilities through the hard work of our operations team and the management team. MiddleGround provided the company with critical capital investment that allowed for the vertical integration of key components while expanding the company’s capabilities, setting the company up for future revenue growth,” said Lindsay Quintero, Vice President at MiddleGround. “The company is well-positioned to capitalize on future growth in the U.S. housing market based on aged U.S. housing stock, record-high homeowner equity, and an ongoing undersupply of housing. We’ve aligned ATL’s product portfolio to include a full suite of garage door hardware products that will enable the company to capitalize on current industry tailwinds that include an accelerated demand for residential repair and remodeling, new housing construction, and increased commercial construction in North America. We believe that as a part of Chamberlain, the combined platform is well-positioned to deliver even greater value through its highly complementary product offering.”

    “MiddleGround has been an exceptional partner for ATL. Their operational expertise and deep, hands-on experience has positioned us with several competitive advantages,” added Mr. Brockley. “We’re looking forward to continuing the strategic momentum MiddleGround has imparted under the Chamberlain Group.”

    The transaction is MiddleGround’s third full exit for its first fund, MiddleGround Capital I, LP, which closed in August 2019 at $460 million.

    Advisors
    Raymond James served as financial advisor and Greenberg Traurig served as legal counsel to MiddleGround Capital. Wells Fargo served as exclusive financial advisor and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LP served as legal counsel to the Chamberlain Group.

    About MiddleGround Capital
    MiddleGround Capital is a private equity firm based in Lexington, Kentucky with over $4.1 billion of assets under management. MiddleGround makes control equity investments in middle market B2B industrial and specialty distribution businesses. MiddleGround works with its portfolio companies to create value through a hands-on operational approach and partners with its management teams to support long-term growth strategies. For more information, please visit: https://middleground.com/.

    About Arrow Tru-Line
    Arrow Tru-Line is the leading independent manufacturer and supplier of overhead garage door hardware components in North America selling into both residential and commercial sectors. Headquartered in Archbold, OH, the company has 6 facilities supporting its core manufacturing footprint spread across the U.S. and Canada. For more information, please visit: www.arrowtruline.com.

    About Chamberlain Group
    Chamberlain Group (GG) is global leader in intelligent access and Blackstone portfolio company. Our myQ ecosystem allows you to unlock your home’s full potential with an all-in-one access + monitoring app. myQ also delivers seamless, secure, access to businesses and communities worldwide. CG’s LiftMaster® and Chamberlain® products are found in 50+ million homes, and 13 million+ people rely on myQ® daily. Our patented vehicle-to-home connectivity solution, myQ Connected Garage, is available in millions of vehicles from the leading automakers.

    Follow Chamberlain Group on LinkedIn and Instagram.

    About Blackstone
    Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Blackstone seeks to deliver compelling returns for institutional and individual investors by strengthening the companies in which the firm invests. Blackstone’s more than $1.1 trillion in assets under management include global investment strategies focused on real estate, private equity, credit, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, real assets, secondaries and hedge funds. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and Instagram.  

    MiddleGround Capital Media Contacts
    Doug Allen/Maya Hanowitz
    Dukas Linden Public Relations
    MiddleGround@dlpr.com
    +1 (646) 722-6530

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Why are we so obsessed with bringing back the woolly mammoth?

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Rebecca Woods, Associate Professor, Institute for the History & Philosophy of Science & Technology, University of Toronto

    A photograph of a steppe mammoth on display at the Australian Museum in Sydney. (Unsplash/April Pethybridge), CC BY

    In just the last several months, de-extinction — bringing back extinct species by recreating them or organisms that resemble them — has moved closer from science fiction to science fact. Colossal Biosciences — an American for-profit de-extinction startup headed by geneticists George Church and Beth Shapiro — announced two major achievements almost back-to-back.

    In the first, scientists spliced part of the woolly mammoth’s genome into mice to create “woolly mice,” incredibly cute pom-pom like rodents sporting coats that express the genes of long-extinct woolly mammoths.

    Reuters reports on the woolly mice developed by Colossal Biosciences.

    Just a few weeks later, Colossal announced an even bigger achievement, claiming to have brought back the dire wolf, a contemporary of the woolly mammoth who, like their Ice Age proboscidean co-travellers, last roamed the Earth roughly 10,000 years ago.



    Read more:
    Colossal Bioscience’s attempt to de-extinct the dire wolf is a dangerously deceptive publicity stunt

    Mammoth popularity

    Woolly mammoths are at the forefront of these controversial de-extinction efforts. Despite a deep bench of more recently extinct species — the dodo, the moa, passenger pigeons, the bucardo, quagga, thylacine, aurochs and a whole host of others — readily available to take centre stage in de-extinction efforts, woolly mammoths figure prominently in de-extinction stories, both scientific and popular.

    Woolly mammoths featured prominently in the imagery of Revive & Restore, a “genetic rescue” conglomerate of scientists and futurists headed by tech-guru Steward Brand; in 2021, Colossal “established ownership” over woolly mammoth revival. Colossal’s own logo visualizes CRISP-R, the gene-splicing technology that facilitates de-extinction, and the signature spiralled tusks of Mammuthus primigenius.

    In popular culture, woolly mammoths have been a source of fascination for the last several centuries. Thomas Jefferson famously held out hope that live mammoths would be found beyond the frontier of American colonialism in the late-1700s, while early excavations of American mastodons were major events in the early 1800s. American painter Charles Willson Peale captured the first such excavation in oils, and later capitalized on that mastadon’s skeleton in his Philadelphia museum.

    More recently, Manny the mammoth featured in the ongoing Ice Age animated film franchise, first launched in 2002.

    Climate icons

    At the same time, woolly mammoths have also become an emblem of the contemporary climate crisis. During the recent wave of defacing famous artwork in order to draw attention to the climate crisis, environmental activists painted the (fortunately artificial) tusks of the Royal B.C. Museum’s woolly mammoth model bright pink.

    In a 2023 publicity stunt, the Australian cultured-meat startup, Vow, unveiled a mammoth meatball produced out of the woolly mammoth’s genome with sheep DNA as filler. Not for sale, the mammoth meatball was scorched before an audience at the Dutch science museum, Nemo.

    The stunt was intended to call attention, again, to the plight of the Earth’s climate, the unsustainability of industrialized food systems and the potential for lab-grown meat to square this particular circle.

    Model animals

    For a creature that no human being has ever seen live and in the flesh, woolly mammoths certainly get a lot of media exposure. How did this long-extinct species become the emblem of contemporary extinction and de-extinction?

    People have been interacting with the remains of woolly mammoths for hundreds of years. Dig a hole deep enough almost anywhere in the northern hemisphere, and you are apt to come across the bones or maybe the tusks of extinct mammoths or mastodons.

    In early modern Europe, mammoth fossils were famously interpreted as the bones of unicorns and giants before being recognized as belonging to elephant-like creatures around 1700. Only around 1800 were mammoths recognized as a distinct and extinct species of proboscidea.

    Elsewhere in Arctic regions, especially Siberia, Indigenous Peoples were familiar with mammoth remains preserved by permafrost. As rivers and their tributaries surged during annual thaws, whole carcasses of mammoths (and woolly rhinos) were sometimes exposed.

    Local peoples who came across these remains, apparently recently dead but belonging to creatures they never saw walking the Earth’s surface, surmised that they were great burrowing rodent-like animals that tunnelled through the ground and perished if they accidentally came into contact with atmosphere.



    Read more:
    Ancient DNA suggests woolly mammoths roamed the Earth more recently than previously thought

    Around the Arctic, including in Alaska, permafrost prevented the fossilization of mammoth tusks as well as bodies, and this ice ivory was — and remains — an important element of Arctic economies, carved locally and exchanged into historically regional, and now global, markets.

    Continued relevance

    Despite their association with the distant past, woolly mammoths have long resonated with modern human cultures as their fossilized or preserved body parts entered economic practices and knowledge systems alike. But as the extinction of once numerous species like the passenger pigeon, the American bison and African elephant began to loom over the late 19th century, woolly mammoths took on new meanings in the context of modern extinction and emergent understandings of human evolution.

    A mural by by paleoartist Charles R. Knight depicting wooly mammoths, displayed at the American Museum of Natural History.
    (United States Geological Survey)

    Revolutions in geology, archeology, paleontology and related disciplines were changing long-held assumptions about the origin of humankind.

    Narratives of the rise of “man the hunter” arose in natural history institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum in Chicago. These origin stories were explicitly connected to the presumed extinction of woolly mammoths and their evolutionary relatives, the mastodons.

    These led to some of the most powerful expressions of mammoths in visual form, like the frescoes and paintings produced by renowned paleoartist Charles R. Knight.

    At the same time, cave paintings in France, Spain and elsewhere came to light in the early 20th century. For example, the 40,000-year-old frescoes at Rouffignac, France clearly depicting woolly mammoths were interpreted as further evidence of this deep and powerful historical connection.

    It is this connection — the association of the rise of modern humankind with the decline and extinction of the woolly mammoth — that feeds today’s continued fascination. Notions of human complicity in extinction stories have long been embedded in modern scientific understandings of woolly mammoths. It is no accident that woolly mammoths are so central to de-extinction projects and climate activism alike.

    Rebecca Woods received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. Why are we so obsessed with bringing back the woolly mammoth? – https://theconversation.com/why-are-we-so-obsessed-with-bringing-back-the-woolly-mammoth-253432

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Alcohol and colonialism: the curious story of the Bulawayo beer gardens

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Maurice Hutton, Research Associate, School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester

    Kontuthu Ziyathunqa – Smoke Rising – was what they used to call Bulawayo when the city was the industrial powerhouse of Zimbabwe. Now, many of its factories lie dormant or derelict. The daily torrent of workers flowing eastward at dawn, and back out to the high-density western suburbs at dusk, has diminished to a trickle.

    But there is an intriguing industrial-era institution that lives on in most of the older western suburbs (formerly called townships). It is the municipal beer hall or beer garden, built in the colonial days for the racially segregated African worker communities. There are dozens of these halls and garden complexes, still serving customers and emitting muffled sounds of merriment to this day.



    Read more:
    Mbare Art Space: a colonial beer hall in Zimbabwe has become a vibrant arts centre

    Like other urban areas in Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe), Bulawayo was informally segregated from its inception, and more formally segregated after the second world war. Under British rule (1893-1965) and then independent white minority rule (1965-1980), municipal drinking amenities were built in the townships to maintain control of African drinking and sociality. At the same time, they raised much-needed revenue for township welfare and recreational services.



    Read more:
    Zimbabwe’s economy crashed – so how do citizens still cling to myths of urban and economic success?

    I researched the history of these beer halls and gardens as part of my PhD project on the development of the segregated African townships in late colonial Bulawayo. As my historical account shows, they played a key role in the contested township development process.

    From beer halls to beer gardens

    Bulawayo’s oldest and most famous beer hall, MaKhumalo, also known as Big Bhawa, was built more than a century ago. It still stands at the heart of the historic Makokoba neighbourhood. It’s enormous, but austere, and in the early days it was oppressively managed. Drinkers would describe feeling like prisoners there.

    The more picturesque beer gardens began to emerge in the 1950s, reflecting the developmental idealism of Hugh Ashton. The Lesotho-born anthropologist was educated at the Universities of Oxford, London and Cape Town, and took up the new directorship of African administration in Bulawayo in 1949.

    He was tuned into new anthropological ideas about social change, as well as developmental ideas spreading through postwar colonial administrations – about “stabilising” and “detribalising” African workers to create a more passive and productive urban working class. He saw a reformed municipal beer system as a key tool for achieving these goals.

    Ashton wanted to make the beer system more legitimate and the venues more community-building. He proposed constructing beer garden complexes with trees, rocks, games facilities, food stalls and events like “traditional dancing”. So the atmosphere would be convivial and respectable, but also controllable, enticing all classes and boosting profits to fund better social services. As we shall see, this strategy was full of contradictions…

    Industrial beer brewing

    MaKhumalo, MaMkhwananzi, MaNdlovu, MaSilela. These beer garden names, emblazoned on the beer dispensaries that stick up above the ramparts of each garden complex, referenced the role that women traditionally played in beer brewing in southern Africa. This helped authenticate the council’s “home brew”.

    But the reality was that the beer was now produced in a massive industrial brewery managed by a Polish man. It was piped down from steel tanks at the tops of the dispensary buildings into the plastic mugs of thirsty punters at small bar windows below. (It was also sold in plastic calabashes and cardboard cartons.)

    And the beer garden bureaucracy, which offered a rare opportunity for African men to attain higher-grade public sector jobs, became increasingly complex and strictly audited.

    As the townships rapidly expanded, with beer gardens dotted about them, sales of the council’s “traditional” beer – the quality of which Ashton and his staff obsessed over – went up and up.

    Extensive beer advertising in the council’s free magazine mixed symbols of tradition (beer as food) with symbols of modern middle-classness.

    Beer monopoly system

    The system’s success relied on the Bulawayo council having a monopoly on the sale of so-called “native beer”. This traditional brew is typically made by malting, mashing, boiling and then fermenting sorghum, millet or maize grains. Racialised Rhodesian liquor laws restricted African access to “European” beers, wines and spirits.

    So, the beer hall or garden was the only public venue where Africans could legally drink (apart from a tiny elite, for whom a few exclusive “cocktail lounges” were built). The council cracked down harshly on “liquor offences” like home brewing.

    This beer monopoly system was quite prevalent in southern and eastern Africa, though rarely at the scale to which it grew in Bulawayo. Nearly everywhere, the system caused resentment among African townspeople, and so it became politically charged.

    In several colonies, beer halls became sites of protest, or were boycotted (most famously in South Africa). And they usually faced stiff competition from illicit drinking dens known as shebeens.

    In Bulawayo, the more the city council “improved” its beer system after the Second World War, the more contradictory the system became. It actively encouraged mass consumption of “traditional” beer, so that funds could be raised for “modern” health, housing and welfare services in the townships. Ashton himself was painfully aware of the contradictions.

    In his guest introduction to a 1974 ethnographic monograph on Bulawayo’s beer gardens, he wrote:

    The ambivalence of my position is obvious. How can one maintain a healthy community and a healthy profit at one and the same time? I can almost hear the critical reader questioning my morality and even my sanity. And why not? I have often done so myself.

    Many citizen groups – both African and European – questioned the system too. They called it illogical, if not immoral; even some government ministers said it had gone too far. And when some beer gardens were constructed close to European residential areas, to cater for African domestic workers, many Europeans reacted with fear and fury.

    As Zimbabweans’ struggle for independence took off in the 1960s, African residents increasingly associated the beer halls and gardens with state neglect, repression, or pacification. They periodically boycotted or vandalised them. Nevertheless, with few alternative options, attendance rates remained high: MaKhumalo recorded 50,000 visitors on one Sunday in 1970.

    After independence

    After Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, the township beer gardens remained in municipal hands. They continued to be popular, even though racial desegregation had finally given township residents access to other social spaces across the city.

    The colonial-era municipal beers continued to be produced, with Ngwebu (“The Royal Brew”) becoming a patriotic beverage for the Ndebele – the city’s majority ethnic group.

    But with the deindustrialisation of Bulawayo since the late 1990s, tens of thousands of blue collar workers have moved to greener pastures, mostly South Africa. The old drinking rhythm of the city’s workforce has changed, and for the young, the beer gardens hold little allure. Increasingly, they have been leased out to private individuals to run.



    Read more:
    Beer, politics and identity – the chequered history behind Namibian brewing success

    Nevertheless, there is always a daily trickle of regulars to the beer gardens, where mugs and calabashes are passed around among friends or burial society members. Some punters play darts or pool. And there are always some who sit alone, ruminating – perhaps in the company of ghosts from the past.

    The beer gardens of Bulawayo embody the moral and practical contradictions of late colonial development – and the ways in which such systems and infrastructures may live on, but change meaning, in the post-colony.

    Maurice Hutton received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the University of Edinburgh’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences to conduct the research on which this article is based.

    – ref. Alcohol and colonialism: the curious story of the Bulawayo beer gardens – https://theconversation.com/alcohol-and-colonialism-the-curious-story-of-the-bulawayo-beer-gardens-256511

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Locafy Launches AI-Driven SEO Product Suite for FY26

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Locafy’s AI Search Platform Powers Visibility Across Organic and AI Search

    New Product Lineup Tailored to Local, National, and e-Commerce Businesses

    AI-Powered Tools Designed to Automate Engagement and Accelerate Online Presence

    PERTH, Australia, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Locafy Limited (NASDAQ: LCFY, “Locafy”), a globally recognized leader in location-based digital marketing, today unveiled its FY26 suite of AI-powered SEO products. These solutions, now commercially available following successful market testing, are designed to deliver measurable improvements across organic, AI, and marketplace search results.

    Locafy initially outlined its AI-powered publishing roadmap in December 2024, promising to streamline content production and improve cost-effective online visibility for businesses.

    “We are excited to announce that we’ve delivered on that promise,” said Gavin Burnett, CEO of Locafy.

    All of Locafy’s publishing and SEO products are designed to drive visibility in search engines and, increasingly, AI-driven search tools and marketplaces. Recent research shows these optimizations extend across both traditional and emerging search platforms.

    “We’ve evolved our technology to influence not only search engine rankings but also AI search results,” said Burnett. “Our platform helps position our clients’ websites as authoritative sources for high-value keywords, across local, national, and e-commerce campaigns.”

    Burnett added, “We’ve also automated the creation of AI-search-ready landing pages, opening up a greenfield opportunity for scaled monetization. Our U.S. directory includes more than 9.68 million direct business listings, and our citation management partners publish more than 28 million business listings across our directories. Each of these represents either a direct sales opportunity or a chance to collaborate with partners using the data we already publish on their behalf.”

    Locafy is focused on three primary solution categories:

    1. Online Business Listings
    2. Local SEO
    3. AI-powered engagement tools

    Online Business Listings
    Locafy continues to assert that online business listings form the cornerstone of successful Local SEO. These listings supply structured data that fuels automated SEO product generation. Locafy currently publishes more than 9.5 million listings in the U.S. and remains focused on partnerships with citation management firms and multi-location businesses. It is also exploring acquisitions of databases, directories, and citation management assets.

    The Total Addressable Market (TAM) for the Local SEO solution in their key target markets of USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK is more than 40 million businesses.

    “We currently host more than 63 million business listings worldwide, of which more than 40 million are in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the UK,” said Burnett. “However, our direct sales opportunity is more than 11.4 million, plus we have more than 28 million listings that we publish on behalf of partners, who can now connect to our Platform to automate the production of our Local SEO products for their clients.”

    Country Partner Added* Claimed*
    Australia 2,145,707 652,351
    Canada 1,533,479 289,274
    United Kingdom 3,458,205 802,003
    United States of America 33,076,154 9,684,329
    TOTAL 40,213,545 11,427,957

    Local SEO
    The flagship solution, Localizer, integrates listing syndication, AI-search optimization, review management, and Google Map Pack enhancement.

    “We haven’t seen another product that combines these capabilities—at a price point starting around $690/month,” said Burnett. “Our customers get centralized control of reviews, consistent online presence, and high rankings in local map results, often within a short timeframe. Recent automation upgrades have made this level of value possible.”

    AI-powered Engagement Tools
    In addition to improving search visibility, Locafy has developed a scalable, cost-effective AI Voice Concierge that can serve as a virtual receptionist, product expert, or customer service agent.

    “This is our first step into AI-enabled customer engagement,” said Burnett. “Our Voice Concierge acts like a digital team member—it can take bookings, provide answers, and interact 24/7. Just feed it your business documents and it learns. We record and transcribe every interaction, giving clients full transparency.

    “This kind of capability once felt like science fiction, but it’s here now—and Locafy is helping businesses adapt and thrive in an AI-powered world.”

    Over the past six months, Locafy has streamlined its product suite, automated key production processes, and validated product performance through live testing. With this foundation in place, the Company is poised for commercial growth in FY2026.

    While the company still offers solutions for National SEO and e-Commerce, it believes the immediate opportunity afforded by its breakthroughs in AI Search represents a larger and more scalable revenue opportunity with far greater automation already in place.

    About Locafy
    Locafy (Nasdaq: LCFY, LCFYW) is a globally recognized software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company specializing in local search engine marketing. Founded in 2009, Locafy’s mission is to revolutionize the US$700 billion SEO sector. The company helps businesses and brands improve search engine relevance and visibility in proximity-based search through a fast, easy, and automated platform. For more information, please visit www.locafy.com.

    Investor Relations Contact:
    Matt Glover
    Gateway Group, Inc.
    (949) 574-3860
    LCFY@gateway-grp.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Nations are increasingly ‘playing the field’ when it comes to US and China – a new book explains explains why ‘active nonalignment’ is on the march

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Jorge Heine, Outgoing Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University

    Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, center, flanked by India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaks at the summit of Group of 20 leading economies in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 19, 2024. Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images

    In 2020, as Latin American countries were contending with the triple challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, a global economic shock and U.S. policy under the first Trump administration, Jorge Heine, research professor at Boston University and a former Chilean ambassador, in association with two colleagues, Carlos Fortin and Carlos Ominami, put forward the notion of “active nonalignment.”


    Polity Books

    Five years on, the foreign policy approach is more relevant than ever, with trends including the rise of the Global South and the fragmentation of the global order, encouraging countries around the world to reassess their relationships with both the United States and China.

    It led Heine, along with Fortin and Ominami, to follow up on their original arguments in a new book, “The Non-Aligned World,” published in June 2025.

    The Conversation spoke with Heine on what is behind the push toward active nonalignment, and where it may lead.

    For those not familiar, what is active nonalignment?

    Active nonalignment is a foreign policy approach in which countries put their own interests front and center and refuse to take sides in the great power rivalry between the U.S. and China.

    It takes its cue from the Non-Aligned Movement of the 1950s and 1960s but updates it to the realities of the 21st century. Today’s rising Global South is very different from the “Third World” that made up the Non-Aligned Movement. Countries like India, Turkey, Brazil and Indonesia have greater economic heft and wherewithal. They thus have more options than in the past.

    They can pick and choose policies in accordance with what is in their national interests. And because there is competition between Washington and Beijing to win over such countries’ hearts and minds, those looking to promote a nonaligned agenda have greater leverage.

    Traditional international relations literature suggests that in relations between nations, you can either “balance,” meaning take a strong position against another power, or “bandwagon” – that is, go along with the wishes of that power. The notion was that weaker states couldn’t balance against the Great Powers because they don’t have the military power to do so, so they had to bandwagon.

    What we are saying is that there is an intermediate approach: hedging. Countries can hedge their bets or equivocate by playing one power off the other. So, on some issues you side with the U.S., and others you side with China.

    Thus, the grand strategy of active nonalignment is “playing the field,” or in other words, searching for opportunities among what is available in the international environment. This means being constantly on the lookout for potential advantages and available resources – in short, being active, rather than passive or reactive.

    So active nonalignment is not so much a movement as it is a doctrine.

    Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba, right, and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser attend the first Conference of Non-Aligned Countries in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in September 1961.
    Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    It’s been five years since you first came up with the idea of active nonalignment. Why did you think it was time to revisit it now?

    The notion of active nonalignment came up during the first Trump administration and in the context of a Latin America hit by the triple-whammy of U.S. pressure, a pandemic and the ensuing recession – which in Latin America translated into the biggest economic downturn in 120 years, a 6.6% drop of regional gross domestic product in 2020.

    ANA was intended as a guide for Latin American countries to navigate those difficult moments, and it led us to the publication of a symposium volume with contributions by six former Latin American foreign ministers in November 2021, in which we elaborated on the concept.

    Three months later, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the reaction to it by many countries in Asia and Africa, nonalignment was back with a vengeance.

    Countries like India, Pakistan, South Africa and Indonesia, among others, took positions that were at odds with the West on Ukraine. Many of them, though not all, condemned Russian aggression but also wanted no part in the West’s sanctions on Moscow. These sanctions were seen as unwarranted and as an expression of Western double standards – no sanctions were applied on the U.S. for invading Iraq, of course.

    And then there were the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the resulting war in the Gaza Strip. Countries across the Global South strongly condemned the Hamas attacks, but the West’s response to the subsequent deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians brought home the notion of double standards when it came to international human rights.

    Why weren’t Palestinians deserving of the same compassion as Ukrainians? For many in the Global South, that question hit very hard – the idea that “human rights are limited to Europeans and people who looked like them did not go down well.”

    Thus, South Africa brought a case against Israel in the International Court of Justice alleging genocide, and Brazil spearheaded ceasefire efforts at the United Nations.

    A third development is the expansion of the BRICS bloc of economies from its original five members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – to 10 members. Although China and Russia are not members of the Global South, those other founding members are, and the BRICS group has promoted key issues on the Global South’s agenda. The addition of countries such as Egypt and Ethiopia has meant that BRICS has increasingly taken on the guise of the Global South forum. Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leading proponent of BRICS, is keen on advancing this Global South agenda.

    All three of these developments have made active nonalignment more relevant than ever before.

    How are China and the US responding to active nonalignment – or are they?

    I’ll give you two examples: Angola and Argentina.

    In Angola, the African country that has received most Chinese cooperation to the tune of US$45 billion, you now have the U.S. financing what is known as the Lobito Corridor – a railway line that stretches from the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Angola’s Atlantic coast.

    Ten years ago, the notion that the U.S. would be financing railway projects in southern Africa would have been considered unfathomable. Yet it has happened. Why? Because China has built significant railway lines in countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia, and the U.S. realized that it was being left behind.

    For the longest time, the U.S. would condemn such Chinese-financed infrastructure projects via the “Belt and Road Initiative” as nothing but “debt-trap diplomacy” designed to saddle developing nations with “white elephants” nobody needed. But a couple of years ago, that tune changed: The U.S. and Europe realized that there is a big infrastructure deficit in Asia, Africa and Latin America that China was stepping in to reduce – and the West was nowhere to be seen in this critical area.

    In short, the West changed it approach – and countries like Angola are now able to play the U.S. off against China for its own national interests.

    Then take Argentina. In 2023, Javier Milei was elected president on a strong anti-China platform. He said his government would have nothing to do with Beijing. But just two years later, Milei announced in an Economist interview that he is a great admirer of Beijing.

    Why? Because Argentina has a very significant foreign debt, and Milei knew that a continued anti-China stance would mean a credit line from Beijing would likely not be renewed. The Argentinian president was under pressure from the International Monetary Fund and Washington to let the credit line with China lapse, but Milei refused to do so and managed to hold his own, playing both sides against the middle.

    Milei is a populist conservative; Brazil’s Lula a leftist. So is active nonalignment immune to ideological differences?

    Absolutely. When people ask me what the difference is between traditional nonalignment and active nonalignment, one of the most obvious things is that the latter is nonideological – it can be used by people of the right, left and center. It is a guide to action, a compass to navigate the waters of a highly troubled world, and can be used by governments of very different ideological hues.

    Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentina President Javier Milei at the 66th Summit of leaders of the Mercosur trading bloc in Buenos Aires on July 3, 2025.
    Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images

    The book talks a lot about the fragmentation of the rules-based order. Where do you see this heading?

    There is little doubt that the liberal international order that framed world politics from 1945 to 2016 has come to an end. Some of its bedrock principles, like multilateralism, free trade and respect for international law and existing international treaties, have been severely undermined.

    We are now in a transitional stage. The notion of the West as a geopolitical entity, as we knew it, has ceased to exist. We now have the extraordinary situation where illiberal forces in Hungary, Germany and Poland, among other places, are being supported by those in power in both Washington and Moscow.

    And this decline of the West has not come about because of any economic issue – the U.S. still represents around 25% of global GDP, much as it did in 1970 – but because of the breakdown of the trans-Atlantic alliance.

    So we are moving toward a very different type of world order – and one in which the Global South has the opportunity to have much more of a role, especially if it deploys active nonalignment.

    How have events since Trump’s inauguration played into your argument?

    The notion of active nonalignment was triggered by the first Trump administration’s pressure on Latin American countries. I would argue that the measures undertaken in Trump’s second administration – the tariffs imposed on 90 countries around the world; the U.S. leaving the Paris climate agreement, the World Health Organization and the U.N. Human Rights Council; and other “America First” policies – have only underscored the validity of active nonalignment as a foreign policy approach.

    The pressures on countries across the Global South are very strong, and there is a temptation to give in to Trump and align with U.S. Yet, all indications are that simply giving in to Trump’s demands isn’t a recipe for success. Those countries that have gone down the route of giving in to Trump’s demands only see more demands after that. Countries need a different approach – and that can be found in active nonalignment.

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

    – ref. Nations are increasingly ‘playing the field’ when it comes to US and China – a new book explains explains why ‘active nonalignment’ is on the march – https://theconversation.com/nations-are-increasingly-playing-the-field-when-it-comes-to-us-and-china-a-new-book-explains-explains-why-active-nonalignment-is-on-the-march-260234

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Let’s talk about Russia: Polytechnic’s study guides for Mariupol students

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    From September 1, students of the Priazovsky State Technical University (PSTU) will begin studying the key course “Fundamentals of Russian Statehood” using the unique practical manual “Let’s Talk About Russia”. It was developed by employees of the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.

    In recent years, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation has been actively working to reform the humanitarian block of disciplines in the country’s universities. One of the main innovations of the 2023-2024 academic year was the introduction of a patriotic-focused academic subject, “Fundamentals of Russian Statehood”. The need to develop the discipline was especially emphasized by Russian President V.V. Putin at a meeting of the State Council “On the implementation of youth policy in modern conditions”. The head of state pointed out the critical importance of this step in the context of escalating information confrontation, noting the increased vulnerability of the younger generation to targeted attacks from outside. The task has been set to give young people reliable guidelines and reliable knowledge through a fundamental academic course on the “History of Russia” and “Fundamentals of Russian Statehood”.

    In response to the appeal of the teachers of the Priazovsky State Technical University to the Vice-Rector for Educational Activities of SPbPU Lyudmila Pankova, an additional print run of the textbook “Let’s Talk About Russia” was promptly printed and sent to Mariupol. The presentation ceremony took place at the A. A. Zhdanov Memorial House-Museum in Mariupol – a branch of the State Memorial Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad.

    The practical manual was prepared by a team of authors — teachers of the Higher School of Social Sciences of the Humanitarian Institute. The main feature of the publication is its innovative structure, which allows for an organic combination of theoretical training in the course “Fundamentals of Russian Statehood” with various analytical, project and creative tasks.

    By studying the fundamental principles of statehood, value and ideological attitudes of a citizen of the Russian Federation, students will not only learn the information, but also comprehend it through dialogues, discussions, project work and the completion of creative tasks.

    For example, when studying the topic “Diversity of Russian Regions”, students are offered tasks in the form of fillwords and anagrams. The game approach turns the acquisition of material into a fascinating search, developing attentiveness and analytical thinking. Working on the topic “Victories and Trials of Russia”, students create a virtual art gallery of works dedicated to the trials or victories of Russia. Reflecting on the traditional values of Russian society, students analyze how values and moral ideals are reflected in language, works of art, and are fixed in the form of quotes, images, and characters. The children select quotes and suitable images from works of literature and popular culture that most vividly demonstrate the manifestation of a specific value. It is the synthesis of theory and interactive tasks that allows us to form a meaningful personal attitude to the principles and values of Russian statehood, making the learning process as productive and engaging as possible.

    At the present time, the Higher School of Social Sciences of the Humanitarian Institute is completing work on a collective monograph, “Russia’s Civilization Path,” within the framework of a single educational and methodological complex on “Fundamentals of Russian Statehood.” The monograph will become an additional resource for integration processes aimed at forming the socio-cultural sovereignty of our country.

    Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    .

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Social media can support or undermine democracy – it comes down to how it’s designed

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Lisa Schirch, Professor of the Practice of Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame

    A protester calls out Facebook for facilitating the spread of disinformation. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

    Every design choice that social media platforms make nudges users toward certain actions, values and emotional states.

    It is a design choice to offer a news feed that combines verified news sources with conspiracy blogs – interspersed with photos of a family picnic – with no distinction between these very different types of information. It is a design choice to use algorithms that find the most emotional or outrageous content to show users, hoping it keeps them online. And it is a design choice to send bright red notifications, keeping people in a state of expectation for the next photo or juicy piece of gossip.

    Platform design is a silent pilot steering human behavior.

    Social media platforms are bringing massive changes to how people get their news and how they communicate and behave. For example, the “endless scroll” is a design feature that aims to keep users scrolling and never reaching the bottom of a page where they might decide to pause.

    I’m a political scientist who researches aspects of technology that support democracy and social cohesion, and I’ve observed how the design of social media platforms affects them.

    Democracy is in crisis globally, and technology is playing a role. Most large platforms optimize their designs for profit, not community or democracy. Increasingly, Big Tech is siding with autocrats, and the platforms’ designs help keep society under control.

    There are alternatives, however. Some companies design online platforms to defend democratic values.

    Optimized for profit

    A handful of tech billionaires dominate the global information ecosystem. Without public accountability or oversight, they determine what news shows up on your feed and what data they collect and share.

    Social media companies say they are in the business of connecting people, but they make most of their money as data brokers and advertising firms. Time spent on platforms translates to profit. The more time you spend online, the more ads you see and the more data they can collect from you.

    This ad-based business model demands designs that encourage endless scrolling, social comparison and emotional engagement. Platforms routinely claim they merely reflect user behavior, yet internal documents and whistleblower accounts have shown that toxic content often gets a boost because it captures people’s attention.

    Tech companies design platforms based on extensive psychological research. Examples include flashing notifications that make your phone jump and squeak, colorful rewards when others like your posts, and algorithms that push out the most emotional content to stimulate your most base emotions of anger, shame or glee.

    How social media algorithms work, explained.

    Optimizing designs for user engagement undermines mental health and society. Social media sites favor hype and scandal over factual accuracy, and public manipulation over designing for safety, privacy and user agency. The resulting prevalence of polarizing false and deceptive information is corrosive to democracy.

    Many analysts identified these problems nearly a decade ago. But now there is a new threat: Some tech executives are looking to capture political power to advance a new era of techno-autocracy.

    Optimized for political power

    A techno-autocracy is a political system where an authoritarian government uses technology to control its population. Techno-autocrats spread disinformation and propaganda, using fear tactics to demonize others and distract from corruption. They leverage massive amounts of data, artificial intelligence and surveillance to censor opponents.

    For example, China uses technology to monitor and surveil its population with public cameras. Chinese platforms like WeChat and Weibo automatically scan, block or delete messages and posts for sensitive words like “freedom of speech.” Russia promotes domestic platforms like VK that are closely monitored and partly owned by state-linked entities that use it to promote political propaganda.

    Over a decade ago, tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, and now Vice President JD Vance, began aligning with far-right political philosophers like Curtis Yarvin. They argue that democracy impedes innovation, favoring concentrated decision-making in corporate-controlled mini-states governed through surveillance. Embracing this philosophy of techno-autocracy, they moved from funding and designing the internet to reshaping government.

    Techno-autocrats weaponize social media platforms as part of their plan to dismantle democratic institutions.

    The political capture of both X and Meta also have consequences for global security. At Meta, Mark Zuckerberg removed barriers to right-wing propaganda and openly endorsed President Donald Trump’s agenda. Musk changed X’s algorithm to highlight right-wing content, including Russian propaganda.

    Designing tech for democracy

    Recognizing the power that platform design has on society, some companies are designing new civic participation platforms that support rather than undermine society’s access to verified information and places for public deliberation. These platforms offer design features that big tech companies could adopt for improving democratic engagement that can help counter techno-autocracy.

    In 2014, a group of technologists founded Pol.is, an open-source technology for hosting public deliberation that leverages data science. Pol.is enables participants to propose and vote on policy ideas using what they call “computational democracy.” The Pol.is design avoids personal attacks by having no “reply” button. It offers no flashy newsfeed, and it uses algorithms that identify areas of agreement and disagreement to help people make sense of a diversity of opinions. A prompt question asks for people to offer ideas and vote up or down on other ideas. People participate anonymously, helping to keep the focus on the issues and not the people.

    The civic participation platform Pol.is helps large numbers of people share their views without distractions or personal attacks.

    Taiwan used the Pol.is platform to enable mass civic engagement in the 2014 democracy movement. The U.K. government’s Collective Intelligence Lab used the platform to generate public discussion and generate new policy proposals on climate and health care policies. In Finland, a public foundation called Sitra uses Pol.is in its “What do you think, Finland?” public dialogues.

    Barcelona, Spain, designed a new participatory democracy platform called Decidim in 2017. Now used throughout Spain and Europe, Decidim enables citizens to collaboratively propose, debate and decide on public policies and budgets through transparent digital processes.

    Nobel Peace Laureate Maria Ressa founded Rappler Communities in 2023, a social network in the Philippines that combines journalism, community and technology. It aims to restore trust in institutions by providing safe spaces for exchanging ideas and connecting with neighbors, journalists and civil society groups. Rappler Communities offers the public data privacy and portability, meaning you can take your information – like photos, contacts or messages – from one app or platform and transfer it to another. These design features are not available on the major social media platforms.

    Rappler Communities is a social network in the Philippines that combines journalism, community and technology.
    Screenshot of Rappler Communities

    Tech designed for improving public dialogue is possible – and can even work in the middle of a war zone. In 2024, the Alliance for Middle East Peace began using Remesh.ai, an AI-based platform, to find areas of common ground between Israelis and Palestinians in order to advance the idea of a public peace process and identify elements of a ceasefire agreement.

    Platform designs are a form of social engineering to achieve some sort of goal – because they shape how people behave, think and interact – often invisibly. Designing more and better platforms to support democracy can be an antidote to the wave of global autocracy that is increasingly bolstered by tech platforms that tighten public control.

    Lisa Schirch receives funding from the Ford Foundation. I know the founder of Pol.is and Remesh platforms, mentioned in this article, as well as Maria Ressa of Rappler Communities.

    I will not benefit in any way from describing their work.

    – ref. Social media can support or undermine democracy – it comes down to how it’s designed – https://theconversation.com/social-media-can-support-or-undermine-democracy-it-comes-down-to-how-its-designed-257103

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Turbulent research landscape imperils US brain gain − and ultimately American prosperity

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Marc Zimmer, Professor of Chemistry, Connecticut College

    International students have been a big part of American STEM. Rick Friedman/AFP via Getty Images

    Despite representing only 4% of the world’s population, the United States accounts for over half of science Nobel Prizes awarded since 2000, hosts seven of The Times Higher Education Top 10 science universities, and incubates firms such as Alphabet (Google), Meta and Pfizer that turn federally funded discoveries into billion-dollar markets.

    The domestic STEM talent pool alone cannot sustain this research output. The U.S. is reliant on a steady and strong influx of foreign scientists – a brain gain. In 2021, foreign-born people constituted 43% of doctorate-level scientists and engineers in the U.S. They make up a significant share of America’s elite researchers: Since 2000, 37 of the 104 U.S. Nobel laureates in the hard sciences, more than a third, were born outside the country.

    China, the U.S.’s largest competitor in science, technology, engineering and math endeavors, has a population that is 4.1 times larger than that of the U.S. and so has a larger pool of homegrown talent. Each year, three times as many Chinese citizens (77,000) are awarded STEM Ph.D.s as American citizens (23,000).

    To remain preeminent, the U.S. will need to keep attracting exceptional foreign graduate students, budding entrepreneurs and established scientific leaders.

    Funding and visa policies could flip gain to drain

    This scientific brain gain is being threatened by the Trump administration, which is using federal research funding, scholarships and fellowships as leverage against universities, freezing billions of dollars in grants and contracts to force compliance with its ideological agenda. Its ad hoc approach has been described by higher education leaders as “unprecedented and deeply disturbing,” and a Reagan-appointed judge ruled that 400 National Institutes of Health grants be reinstated because their terminations were “bereft of reasoning, virtually in their entirety.”

    Experts caution that these moves not only risk immediate harm to scientific progress and academic freedom but also erode the public’s trust in science and education, with long-term implications for the nation’s prosperity and security.

    Citing national security concerns, the White House has also targeted visas for Harvard University’s international students and instructed embassies worldwide to halt visa interviews for all international students, citing national security and alleged institutional misconduct. Against a backdrop of court injunctions and legal appeals, the government continues its heightened “national-security” vetting, so thousands of international scholars remain in limbo.

    These measures, combined with travel bans, intensified scrutiny and revocations of existing visas, have disrupted research collaborations and threaten the nation’s continued status as a global leader in science and innovation.

    What US misses with fewer foreign scientists

    The U.S. research brain gain starts with the 281,000 foreign STEM graduate students and 38,000 foreign STEM postdoctoral scholars who annually come to the U.S. I am one of them. After earning my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in South Africa, I left in 1986 to avoid the apartheid‑era military service, completed my chemistry doctorate and postdoc in the U.S., and joined the United States’ brain gain. It’s an opportunity today’s visa climate might have denied me.

    Some other countries are eager to scoop up STEM talent that is unwelcome or unfunded in the U.S.
    Clement Mahoudeau/AFP via Getty Images

    Incentives for the best and brightest foreign science students to come to the U.S. are diminishing at the same time its competitors are increasing their efforts to attract the strongest STEM researchers. For instance, the University of Hong Kong is courting stranded Harvard students with dedicated scholarships, housing and credit-transfer help. A French university program, Safe Place for Science, drew so many American job applicants that it had to shut the portal early. And a Portuguese institute reports a tenfold surge in inquiries from U.S.-based junior faculty.

    Immigrants import new ways of thinking to their research labs. They come from other cultures and have learned their science in different educational systems, which place different emphases on rote learning, historical understanding and interdisciplinary research. They often bring an alternative perspective that a homogeneous scientific community cannot match.

    Immigrants also help move discoveries from the lab to the marketplace. Foreign-born inventors file patents at a higher per‑capita rate than their domestic peers and are 80% more likely to launch a company. Such firms create roughly 50% more jobs than enterprises founded by native-born entrepreneurs and pay wages that are, on average, one percentage point higher.

    The economic stakes are high. Growth models suggest that scientific advances now account for a majority of productivity gains in high‑income countries.

    L. Rafael Reif, the former president of MIT, called international talent the “oxygen” of U.S. innovation; restricting visas chokes that supply. Ongoing cuts and uncertainties in federal funding and visa policy now jeopardize America’s scientific leadership and with it the nation’s long‑term economic growth.

    Marc Zimmer received funding from NIH and NSF.

    – ref. Turbulent research landscape imperils US brain gain − and ultimately American prosperity – https://theconversation.com/turbulent-research-landscape-imperils-us-brain-gain-and-ultimately-american-prosperity-258537

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI USA: War-Torn Central America in the 1980s Comes to Life in New Historical Memoir

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Some six decades ago, when Scott Wallace’s parents gifted him a Polaroid Swinger camera and leather-bound diary as a child, the seeds of journalism were planted.

    No one knew back then that Wallace, now an associate professor in the UConn journalism department, would go on to become an award-winning writer, television producer, and photojournalist who’s reported from places including the front lines of war-torn Central America, jungles of South America, and post-Soviet Russia.

    Similarly, no one could have foreseen the foreign policy decisions made by the U.S. during the Vietnam War, from around the same time Wallace opened that gift of a camera and journal, would have an influence on some of today’s most divisive issues.

    That’s the thread woven through Wallace’s new historical memoir, “Central America in the Crosshairs of War: On the Road from Vietnam to Iraq,” which has won Gold in the Foreward INDIES Awards in the category of political and social sciences, along with a Gold IPPY from the Independent Book Publishers Association as best history book (oversized/coffee table).

    He maintains the U.S. government’s decisions, denials, and deceit during Vietnam inevitably led to disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan many decades later, coming through the conflicts, civil wars, and revolutions in Central America in the 1980s.

    “Our country would be less polarized,” he says of what would have happened if the U.S. behaved differently in places like El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala during those years.

    “We would be dealing with a diminished immigration crisis if we had encouraged democracy in Central America and redirected the resources that we gave them for training armies and waging war,” he says. “If we instead used those same resources to build up their economies, there would have been far fewer reasons for them to leave. They’d still be there. We seriously contributed to the tearing apart of the social fabric there, and I think a lot of the people who’ve come here in the last 40 years never would have left their homes.”

    Wallace sat with UConn Today recently to talk about how he got started as a journalist, his unique perspective as a firsthand witness to war, and his advice to others who want to report from the front lines.

    Why have you decided to share your story now?

     
    I was in the middle of a project in Brazil involving the struggles of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon and their efforts to defend their territories and the rainforest from predatory logging and other forms of what passes for development down there. Then, the pandemic hit, and I realized I had to move in another direction if I was to work on a monograph during that time. Even after the pandemic passed, it was near-impossible to gain entry to Indigenous communities. Even into 2021 and 2022, it was still too difficult to get into the territories where I’d been conducting my research. Part of the reason I chose the Central America project was to pivot away from Brazil, at least until it was possible to return to those sensitive Indigenous territories. Secondly, there was a lot I’d been wanting to say for a long time about my experiences as a young journalist in Central America and the abiding relevance of so many issues that have come to the fore today, including immigration and the crisis at the border. Very few people understand how much the issue of immigration from Central America has been driven by our policies from 40 years ago, when we were actively involved in supporting and fueling the military conflicts that were going on down there. It drove a lot of the immigration into the U.S. and made the conditions in those countries so difficult that people left en masse. It’s a story of unintended consequences. The third impetus for the project was the very rich trove of images I’d taken while covering those conflicts, most of which had not previously been published, along with detailed notes and compelling stories that have withstood the test of time. Those experiences formed the foundation of my career and what I’ve ended up doing as a journalist over the last 40 years.

    What’s one of your ‘I-can’t-believe-I did-that’ experiences from the front lines?

    We managed to get ourselves into this rural area of El Salvador in the rebel stronghold of Chalatenango Department, where there had been allegations of a massacre perpetrated by the army that the United States was arming and supporting. We managed to bluff our way past a series of roadblocks, got into rebel-controlled territory, and then got permission from the guerrillas to undertake a journey on foot down into the scene of this atrocity.  After most of the day walking, we came upon a dilapidated footbridge stretching across this yawning chasm with a rushing river beneath us. The bridge was such a wreck that, out in the middle, the boards were sagging vertically to the surface of the water, and the wires on one side were basically useless. You had to pick your way across, hand over hand, with your feet on the tops of the boards. The water below was rushing at such a furious speed that the rebels advised us not to look down as we crossed because the rush of the water would make us dizzy, and we’d lose our balance and fall. Had we known what we were getting into, I’m not sure we would have gone there. But by then, we were already so far into the journey there was no going back. When we got to the scene, a horrific stench came from a good way off. It looked like a scene from a plane crash, with clothing and belongings strewn across the brush and hanging from the trees and bodies lying on the ground. It was horrific. I did my best to piece together what had happened from interviews with survivors and what we could see on the ground.

    Something like that must stick with you.

     
    I think you develop a little bit of a thick skin, and you just have to move through it. You’re there to find out what happened, and your own personal feelings are kind of secondary.

    Sandinista Popular Army soldiers forcibly remove peasants to create a free-fire zone to battle Contra rebels in El Ventarrón, Nicaragua, in 1985. (Photo courtesy of Scott Wallace)

    How did you get your start as a journalist?

     
    I was thirsty for adventure and for finding out about the bigger world. I took a year off from college as an undergraduate, and, with advice from some students who were a little older than me and who had done something similar, I lined up a volunteer position in the Peruvian jungle. I went first to Mexico, studied intensive Spanish for the summer, then traveled overland through Central America, down the spine of the Andes, and out into the jungle, where I worked as a literacy instructor in an Indigenous community. During that year I discovered something new about myself. I didn’t know Spanish at all before I left, and through the process of having to put myself out there, I kind of developed a new persona as I interacted with Latin Americans and mastered the language and the culture. I loved the music, the people, and the literature. I returned to college after that, doubled up on Spanish classes, and learned how to write it and read it. I also became fascinated with what was going on in Latin America in the news. I was already a few years out of college when it dawned on me that maybe I could make a career as a journalist covering events in Latin America, since I loved writing, taking pictures, and travel. I decided to go back to school to get a master’s in journalism with the objective of going to Central America when I graduated. By this time, the early 1980s, Central America was in turmoil. The Sandinistas had taken power in Nicaragua, a civil war had erupted in El Salvador, and the Reagan Administration vowed to ‘draw the line’ against what it perceived to be communist aggression in Central America. The region was a tinderbox that seemed poised to become a new Vietnam. I knew that no news organization would send a new graduate straight into a big story. I would have to go as a freelancer, so I decided to learn as many skills as I could, because as a freelancer I knew I would have to have as many skills as possible to earn a living: write news stories, take photographs for my stories, sell my photographs to other news outlets. I also got a tip that doing radio for one of the networks was a really good way to establish yourself and bring in a steady stream of work. Just as I was about to graduate, one of my professors, who had previously been a CBS Radio correspondent, introduced me to network executives when they came to campus, and one thing led to another. They didn’t have anyone in El Salvador at that time, so I was able to land a gig as their freelance ‘stringer’ there.

    What would your advice be for a journalism student or working journalist who’s hungry to do this kind of work today?

     
    It takes a certain kind of person. You have to be passionate about the world, curious about the way the world works. You need to be an avid reader of literature as well as nonfiction, be up on current events, and follow the news closely. In all the writing classes that I teach, I require my students to accompany their stories with images, because everyone should know how to take decent pictures and how to do solid interviews. They should learn how to shoot video and record audio. Of course, now you must have a social media presence and put your stuff out there. It’s also very important to make contacts. Ply your professors or the people you meet, go to places where you’re going to meet the professionals you admire. Follow them on Instagram. See who’s excelling at the kind of work you’re interested in and reach out to them. You also should build a portfolio of writing, images, and multimedia. Persistence and patience are also important.

    Compared to historians and others who’ve studied Central America and the conflicts there, do you think you have a unique perspective seeing it all firsthand?

     
    It’s definitely a unique perspective, but sometimes I’m a little bit daunted by the intellectual capabilities and rigor of my colleagues in other departments at the University. I think my strength lies in bringing personal experiences and storytelling acumen to the narrative. In June, I was asked to do a presentation at a seminar of academics on genocide and its relationship to ‘ecocide’ – the criminal destruction of the environment – based on my work covering Indigenous struggles in jungles of the Amazon. I was pleasantly surprised by the positive reception to my presentation, in which I showed my photographs and told stories of people whose lives are impacted and threatened by deforestation, land grabbing, and the violent destruction of habitats and biodiversity. It was a way of bringing abstract concepts down to ground level. I’m not the only one who does that. All my colleagues in the journalism department similarly bring that kind of ground-truthing and storytelling to the subjects they report on.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Plantro Requisitions Shareholder Meeting of Dye & Durham, Nominates Three Highly-Qualified Individuals to Initiate Sale of Company

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Nearly $1 Billion in Shareholder Value Destroyed Under Engine Led Board Since December 2024

    Governance Failures: Four CEOs and Two CFOs in Six Months, an Entrenched Board Ignoring Credible Bids, Insiders Granted ~5% of the Company in Egregious $10 Stock Options, and Investors Actively Directing Management

    If the Current Board and its Misguided Strategy Remain in Place, Shareholders Risk Further Losses – It is Time to Immediately Initiate a Sale Process and Unlock a Change of Control Premium for Shareholders

    Today, a Financial Services Sale for ~$590 million or ~11x EBITDA Still Leaves Leverage at ~4.5x, with No Path to Sub-3x Until 2031

    ST. HELIER, Jersey, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Plantro Ltd. (“Plantro” or the “Concerned Shareholder”) one of the largest shareholders of Dye & Durham Limited (“Dye & Durham” or the “Company”) (DND: TSX) which owns approximately 11% of the Company, today announced that it has requisitioned a special meeting of Dye & Durham shareholders (the “Special Meeting”) and nominated three highly qualified individuals for the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”): Brian J. Bidulka, David Danziger, and Martha Vallance. The requisition also calls for the removal of Board Chair Arnaud Ajdler, and directors Tracey E. Keates, and Ritu Khanna, from the Board.

    The value destruction at Dye & Durham since December of 2024 has reached crisis proportions and threatens the Company’s future. The current Board, steered by Engine Capital (“Engine”), EdgePoint Wealth Management Inc. (“EdgePoint”) and OneMove Capital Ltd. (“OneMove”) (together, the “Engine Activist Group”) has presided over the destruction of nearly $1 billion in shareholder value.

    The Engine Activist Group and the Board have pursued a misguided and haphazard strategy of customer price cuts and overspending. This has led to sharp declines in Adjusted EBITDA, cash flow, and rising debt, as evidenced by the Company’s recent quarterly results and a new debt covenant being imposed. As global real estate markets recently weakened, the Board doubled down on its strategy instead of adjusting course. This has caused a liquidity crisis, forcing the Company to aggressively draw on its revolving credit facility to make its April 2025 interest payment. With no clear or credible plan in place, leverage is expected to approach 6.0x Adjusted EBITDA by September 30, 20251.

    Remaining public is no longer a viable option. If the current Board remains unchanged, the Company will continue down the same failed path, resulting in further shareholder losses. A full sale of the Company is the only way to realize a control premium for current shareholders and restore stability in the business.

    Unfortunately, the current Board and the Engine Activist Group have fought for the past nine months against the sale of the Company or even presenting an offer to shareholders to consider. Before taking control, the Engine Activist Group publicly rejected multiple all-cash offers obtained by the prior board of approximately $25 per share. After the 2024 annual general meeting, as the stock declined significantly, Plantro submitted an offer to acquire the Company for $20 a share in February 2025. This offer was similarly rejected, and Plantro was threatened with litigation for privately submitting it. Furthermore, in April 2025, according to media reports, the Board refused to engage with Advent International, a credible well-funded buyer, who formally submitted offers of approximately $20 per share. The Board has also continued to deny basic due diligence access, actively undermining the possibility of negotiating higher bids.

    As outlined below, and in a presentation available at www.SellDnD.com, a sale of Dye & Durham is the only viable risk-adjusted path, free from execution risk, remaining for shareholders to preserve and maximize their value. Plantro invites its fellow shareholders to join in the push for urgent change. If elected, the Plantro nominees intend to immediately pursue a well-governed and thoughtful process to sell the Company without delay TO THE BUYER WILLING TO PAY THE HIGHEST PRICE.

    Stopgap Solutions Won’t Protect Shareholders: Dye & Durham Cannot Afford to Wait Any Longer and the Company Should Be Sold.

    The Engine Activist Group will try to sell you a half-baked plan — an asset sale and a plea for more time; but they are wrong. Just months ago, a sale of the Financial Services business may have been a viable path to reduce leverage, however, their misguided strategy and poor execution has damaged the business to the point where a sale of the Financial Services business would do little to reduce debt. Even if the Company sells additional assets, there are no realistic paths to reduce leverage below 4.0x any time soon.

    The Engine Activist Group and Engine-led Board have no plan to deliver anywhere near a $20 per share price on a risk- or time-adjusted basis. All they will do is sell you vague and hypothetical outcomes. Shareholders need to immediately realize a sale of the entire Company for the large control premium available for the following reasons:

    • It is Too Risky Not to Sell: A misguided and haphazard strategy, coupled with poor execution has led to significantly declining financial performance and excessive borrowing over the last six months. This has resulted in a new 5.8x debt covenant being imposed on the business, which sell-side analysts estimate the Company will be precariously close to breaching in the coming quarters2, putting shareholder equity at real risk of further erosion.
    • Divesting Financial Services Doesn’t Solve the Problem: Today, a sale of the Financial Services business at ~11x Adjusted EBITDA still leaves leverage at ~4.5x, with no path to sub-3x until 20313. Further, speculative claims of multiple expansion following a sale of the Financial Services business are unfounded as the Company will be a smaller, declining business, with leverage too high for public market investors to tolerate.
    • Generous Assumptions Point to a Lower Share Price: Waiting is not an option. Assuming the Company maintains its current 7.9x trading multiple the implied share price in Q3 FY2026 will be between $4.77 and $7.444, with the low-end of the range assuming the Company misses revenue estimates by only 5%.
    • There Are Still Credible Interested Buyers at the Table Right Now: Given the current negative trajectory, shareholders should pursue a full sale to capture an attractive all-cash change-of-control premium. Credible private equity buyers with the right expertise, risk appetite, and who bring the appropriate capital structure, are interested in acquiring the Company right now.

    The Engine Activist Group Has Usurped the Board and Now Dye & Durham is Not Suited to Operate as a Public Company.

    A revolving door of executives has destabilized the business and eradicated irreplaceable institutional memory at the worst possible time. The Company is now on its fourth CEO in six months, and its second CFO. Numerous other executives and employees at all levels have left or been terminated, with employee turnover now reportedly reaching 25%, compared to low single digits previously, creating paralysis and leaving the business rudderless. Retaining even a portion of this critical institutional knowledge would have informed better decision making and helped avoid multiple strategic blunders.

    In what appears to be an act of desperation, the Board delegated the recruitment of a new CEO and CFO to the principal of OneMove and a representative of EdgePoint, and in doing so appointed an unproven first-time CEO, with no public company or capital allocation experience, and a new CFO. They then granted the pair nearly 5% of the Company in options priced at just $10 per share. The pair stand to pocket over $30 million simply for getting shareholders back to where they were in December 2024.

    Plantro understands there is also ongoing infighting at the Board level that has a created a situation where management cannot operate effectively, and established governance structures are breaking down. Plantro has learned the Company was recently forced to engage an independent third party mediator to help navigate basic internal operations as a result of repeated shareholder-level interference with management. This kind of shareholder “skip-level” behaviour, where investors directly bypass a board of directors and provide instruction directly to management, is confusing and creates potential for further executive attrition. It is also virtually unheard of in a public company and raises serious concerns about accountability and proper oversight.

    Plantro’s Highly Qualified Nominees Are Committed to Leading a Process to Sell Dye & Durham.

    The Plantro nominees collectively bring experience in M&A, capital allocation, operations, technology, governance, public and private board service, and direct senior experience at Dye & Durham (which is necessary given excessive executive turnover under the Engine Activist Group). Together they have the right mix of skills, experience, expertise, and shareholder-centric perspective to stabilize Dye & Durham, and immediately commence a well-governed and thoughtful process to sell the Company for the highest price possible.

    Each of Plantro’s highly qualified individuals is independent of Plantro and each other, and will act as true fiduciaries with a mandate to preserve and maximize shareholder value:

    • Brian J. Bidulka, CPA, CA, is a corporate director and chartered accountant with extensive experience in technology, finance, and business analytics. Brian is the former Chief Financial Officer of Research in Motion. He has also served in senior executive roles at major Canadian companies including Porter Airlines, Postmedia, George Weston Limited, and Molson Coors. Currently, he is a member of the board at Andrew Peller Limited, and is also a board member and treasurer of Canada Basketball.
    • David Danziger, CPA, CA, is an experienced finance leader and corporate director with an extensive background in audit, accounting, and management consulting. Previously, he was the Senior Vice President, Assurance, and the National Leader of Public Companies at MNP LLP, Canada’s fifth largest accounting firm. David continues to serve as a Senior Advisor for MNP LLP working on special projects and supporting the Public Company Audit Team nationally. David has served as a director for a range of technology, mining, and life sciences companies listed on the TSX, TSXV, CSE, and NYSE.
    • Martha Vallance is a corporate director with significant experience in M&A, capital markets and technology. Most recently, Martha was the Chief Operating Officer of Dye & Durham after previously establishing and leading the company’s Corporate Development function and has deep knowledge of the company’s strategy and operations. Prior to this, Martha spent over 12 years in Investment & Corporate Banking at BMO Capital Markets, most recently holding a series of senior roles within both the Mergers & Acquisitions and Equity Capital Markets teams. In addition, Martha served as a Director on the Board of TSX-listed TMAC Resources and was also a member of the Special Committee during the sale of the company which concluded in January 2021.

    Plantro proposes that shareholders support incumbent directors Hans T. Gieskes, the recently deposed independent chairman of the Board, Anthony P. Kinnear, Sid Singh, and Eric Shahinian to maintain continuity on the Board. Both Gieskes and Singh served as interim CEOs of the Company, and collectively, these individuals have relevant C-Suite, public company, and capital markets experience at other companies.

    Plantro remains supportive of management and believes stability is required to execute a successful sales process and restore value to shareholders.

    Shareholders Need to Make their Voices Heard

    There is no debate – Dye & Durham does not have a viable long-term path as a public company and must be sold. The Board and management will claim they need more time, but the status quo for shareholders is simply intolerable. While the business drifts and headwinds build, the risks to Dye & Durham and its shareholders continue to accumulate. The time for decisive action has arrived.

    Plantro has heard from many shareholders who share its contention that the Company must run a formal sale process to preserve and maximize shareholder value. Now is the time to speak up. It is imperative that shareholders communicate their views directly to the Board and urge them to call and hold the Special Meeting without delay so the Company can be sold. Alternatively, the Board can spare shareholders the cost and distraction of a proxy contest, appoint the Plantro nominees to the Board, and commence a formal sale process immediately.

    Please visit www.SellDnd.com to view Plantro’s presentation to fellow shareholders and other important materials.

    Other Information Concerning the Plantro Nominees

    To the knowledge of Plantro, no Plantro nominee is, at the date hereof, or has been, within ten (10) years before the date hereof: (a) a director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer of any company that (i) was subject to a cease trade order, an order similar to a cease trade order or an order that denied the relevant company access to any exemption under securities legislation that was in effect for a period of more than thirty (30) consecutive days (each, an “order”), in each case that was issued while the Plantro nominee was acting in the capacity as director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer, or (ii) was subject to an order that was issued after the Plantro nominee ceased to be a director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer and which resulted from an event that occurred while that person was acting in the capacity as director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer; (b) a director or executive officer of any company that, while such Plantro nominee was acting in that capacity, or within one (1) year of such Plantro nominee ceasing to act in that capacity, became bankrupt, made a proposal under any legislation relating to bankruptcy or insolvency or was subject to or instituted any proceedings, arrangement or compromise with creditors or had a receiver, receiver manager or trustee appointed to hold its assets; or (c) someone who became bankrupt, made a proposal under any legislation relating to bankruptcy or insolvency, or became subject to or instituted any proceedings, arrangement or compromise with creditors, or had a receiver, receiver manager or trustee appointed to hold the assets of such Plantro nominee.

    To the knowledge of Plantro, as at the date hereof, no Plantro nominee has been subject to: (a) any penalties or sanctions imposed by a court relating to securities legislation, or by a securities regulatory authority, or has entered into a settlement agreement with a securities regulatory authority; or (b) any other penalties or sanctions imposed by a court or regulatory body that would likely be considered important to a reasonable securityholder in deciding whether to vote for a Plantro nominee.

    To the knowledge of Plantro, none of the directors or officers of Plantro, or any associates or affiliates of the foregoing, or any of the Plantro nominees or their respective associates or affiliates, has: (a) any material interest, direct or indirect, in any transaction since the commencement of the Company’s most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction which has materially affected or will materially affect the Company or any of its subsidiaries; or (b) any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter proposed to be acted on at the Special Meeting, other than the re-constitution of the Board.

    Plantro beneficially owns and controls 7,374,510 common shares representing approximately 11% of the outstanding shares of the Company. Martha Vallance beneficially owns and controls 38,600 common shares, representing approximately 0.06% of the outstanding shares of the Company. She also holds options to acquire an additional 425,433 common shares. Assuming full exercise of these options, she would beneficially own and control 464,033 common shares, representing approximately 0.69% of the then-outstanding shares of the Company, on a partially diluted basis. While the other Concerned Shareholder Nominees may purchase shares in the future, not of the other Concerned Shareholder Nominees currently hold any units of the Company.

    Additional Information

    The information contained in this news release does not and is not meant to constitute a solicitation of a proxy within the meaning of applicable corporate and securities laws. Although Plantro has requisitioned the Special Meeting, there is currently no record or meeting date and shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute a proxy in favour of the Plantro nominees or any other matter to be acted upon at the Special Meeting. In connection with the Special Meeting, Plantro may file a dissident information circular (the “Information Circular”) in due course in compliance with applicable corporate and securities laws.

    Notwithstanding the foregoing, Plantro is voluntarily providing the disclosure required under section 9.2(4) of National Instrument 51-102 – Continuous Disclosure Obligations (“NI 51-102”) and has filed this news release containing disclosure prescribed by applicable corporate law and disclosure required under section 9.2(6) of NI 51-102 in respect of Engine’s director nominees, in accordance with corporate and securities laws applicable to public broadcast solicitations. This news release is available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

    This news release and any solicitation made by Plantro in advance of the Special Meeting is, or will be, as applicable, made by Plantro and not by or on behalf of the management of the Company. All costs incurred for any solicitation will be borne by Plantro, provided that, subject to applicable law, Plantro may seek reimbursement from the Company of Plantro’s out-of-pocket expenses, including proxy solicitation expenses and legal fees, incurred in connection with a successful reconstitution of the Board.

    Plantro is not soliciting proxies in connection with the Special Meeting at this time, and shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute proxies in favour of the Plantro nominees (in respect of the Special Meeting) or any matter to be acted upon at the Special Meeting. Proxies may be solicited by Plantro pursuant to an Information Circular sent to shareholders after which solicitations may be made by or on behalf of Plantro, by mail, telephone, fax, email or other electronic means as well as by newspaper or other media advertising, and in person by directors, officers and employees of Plantro, who will not be specifically remunerated therefor. Plantro may also solicit proxies in reliance upon the public broadcast exemption to the solicitation requirements under applicable Canadian corporate and securities laws, conveyed by way of public broadcast, including through press releases, speeches or publications, and by any other manner permitted under applicable corporate and securities laws. Plantro may engage the services of one or more agents and authorize other persons to assist in soliciting proxies on behalf of Plantro.

    Plantro has retained Morrow Sodali (Canada) Ltd. (“Sodali”) as its proxy advisor to assist Plantro in soliciting shareholders should Plantro commence a formal solicitation of proxies, for which Sodali will receive a fee not to exceed $200,000 plus a per call fee and certain success fees, together with reimbursement for reasonable and out-of-pocket expenses, and will be indemnified against certain liabilities and expenses, including certain liabilities under securities laws. Sodali’s responsibilities will principally include advising Plantro on governance best practices, where applicable, liaising with proxy advisory firms, developing and implementing shareholder engagement strategies, and advising with respect to meeting and proxy protocol.

    Plantro is not requesting that Dye & Durham shareholders submit a proxy at this time. Once Plantro has commenced a formal solicitation of proxies in connection with the Special Meeting, proxies may be revoked by instrument in writing by the shareholder giving the proxy or by its duly authorized officer or attorney, or in any other manner permitted by law (including subsection 110(4) of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario)). None of Plantro or, to its knowledge, any of its associates or affiliates, has any material interest, direct or indirect, (i) in any transaction since the beginning of Dye & Durham’s most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction that has materially affected or would materially affect Dye & Durham or any of its subsidiaries; or (ii) by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter proposed to be acted on at the Special Meeting, other than the election of directors to the Board.

    Dye & Durham’s principal office address is 25 York St., Suite 1100, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2V5. A copy of this news release may be obtained on Dye & Durham’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

    Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

    Certain information in this news release may constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “should,” “plans,” “continue,” or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Forward-looking information in this news release may include, but is not limited to, statements of Plantro regarding (i) how Plantro intends to exercise its legal rights as a shareholder of the Company, and (ii) its plans to make changes at the Board of the Company.

    Although Plantro believes that the expectations reflected in any such forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements including, without limitation, the risks that (i) the Company may use tactics to thwart the rights of Plantro as a shareholder and (ii) the actions being proposed and the changes being demanded by Plantro, may not take place for any reason whatsoever. Except as required by law, Plantro does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

    About Plantro

    Plantro is a privately held company, with an established track record of making successful investments in undervalued and high quality legal, financial, and information services businesses.

    Media Contact

    Gagnier Communications
    Riyaz Lalani / Dan Gagnier
    Plantro@gagnierfc.com

    ____________________________________
    1    Source: CapIQ: based off of analyst consensus adjusted EBITDA estimates and Plantro’s calculations which are available within the investor presentation on www.SellDnD.com
    2The Company’s Consolidated First Lien Net Leverage Ratio will be materially higher in two quarters from now when it loses the ability to offset $185 million in restricted cash it holds to repay its 2026 convertible debentures, against its senior debt. Based on sell-side consensus estimates, the Company will be much closer to breaching its Consolidated First Lien Net Leverage Ratio covenant, should it remain in place.
    3Assumes 0.5% annual Adjusted EBITDA growth after the sale of financial services based off trailing 9-month results as at Q3 FY25; Further details on Plantro’s assumptions and calculations are available within the investor presentation on www.SellDnD.com
    4Future share price applies current EV / LTM EBITDA multiple to LTM EBITDA ending March 31, 2026 based on research consensus estimates and adjusting for net debt forecasted as at March 31, 2026 with cash flow assumptions as further detailed in the presentation available at www.SellDnD.com.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Plantro Requisitions Shareholder Meeting of Dye & Durham, Nominates Three Highly-Qualified Individuals to Initiate Sale of Company

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Nearly $1 Billion in Shareholder Value Destroyed Under Engine Led Board Since December 2024

    Governance Failures: Four CEOs and Two CFOs in Six Months, an Entrenched Board Ignoring Credible Bids, Insiders Granted ~5% of the Company in Egregious $10 Stock Options, and Investors Actively Directing Management

    If the Current Board and its Misguided Strategy Remain in Place, Shareholders Risk Further Losses – It is Time to Immediately Initiate a Sale Process and Unlock a Change of Control Premium for Shareholders

    Today, a Financial Services Sale for ~$590 million or ~11x EBITDA Still Leaves Leverage at ~4.5x, with No Path to Sub-3x Until 2031

    ST. HELIER, Jersey, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Plantro Ltd. (“Plantro” or the “Concerned Shareholder”) one of the largest shareholders of Dye & Durham Limited (“Dye & Durham” or the “Company”) (DND: TSX) which owns approximately 11% of the Company, today announced that it has requisitioned a special meeting of Dye & Durham shareholders (the “Special Meeting”) and nominated three highly qualified individuals for the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”): Brian J. Bidulka, David Danziger, and Martha Vallance. The requisition also calls for the removal of Board Chair Arnaud Ajdler, and directors Tracey E. Keates, and Ritu Khanna, from the Board.

    The value destruction at Dye & Durham since December of 2024 has reached crisis proportions and threatens the Company’s future. The current Board, steered by Engine Capital (“Engine”), EdgePoint Wealth Management Inc. (“EdgePoint”) and OneMove Capital Ltd. (“OneMove”) (together, the “Engine Activist Group”) has presided over the destruction of nearly $1 billion in shareholder value.

    The Engine Activist Group and the Board have pursued a misguided and haphazard strategy of customer price cuts and overspending. This has led to sharp declines in Adjusted EBITDA, cash flow, and rising debt, as evidenced by the Company’s recent quarterly results and a new debt covenant being imposed. As global real estate markets recently weakened, the Board doubled down on its strategy instead of adjusting course. This has caused a liquidity crisis, forcing the Company to aggressively draw on its revolving credit facility to make its April 2025 interest payment. With no clear or credible plan in place, leverage is expected to approach 6.0x Adjusted EBITDA by September 30, 20251.

    Remaining public is no longer a viable option. If the current Board remains unchanged, the Company will continue down the same failed path, resulting in further shareholder losses. A full sale of the Company is the only way to realize a control premium for current shareholders and restore stability in the business.

    Unfortunately, the current Board and the Engine Activist Group have fought for the past nine months against the sale of the Company or even presenting an offer to shareholders to consider. Before taking control, the Engine Activist Group publicly rejected multiple all-cash offers obtained by the prior board of approximately $25 per share. After the 2024 annual general meeting, as the stock declined significantly, Plantro submitted an offer to acquire the Company for $20 a share in February 2025. This offer was similarly rejected, and Plantro was threatened with litigation for privately submitting it. Furthermore, in April 2025, according to media reports, the Board refused to engage with Advent International, a credible well-funded buyer, who formally submitted offers of approximately $20 per share. The Board has also continued to deny basic due diligence access, actively undermining the possibility of negotiating higher bids.

    As outlined below, and in a presentation available at www.SellDnD.com, a sale of Dye & Durham is the only viable risk-adjusted path, free from execution risk, remaining for shareholders to preserve and maximize their value. Plantro invites its fellow shareholders to join in the push for urgent change. If elected, the Plantro nominees intend to immediately pursue a well-governed and thoughtful process to sell the Company without delay TO THE BUYER WILLING TO PAY THE HIGHEST PRICE.

    Stopgap Solutions Won’t Protect Shareholders: Dye & Durham Cannot Afford to Wait Any Longer and the Company Should Be Sold.

    The Engine Activist Group will try to sell you a half-baked plan — an asset sale and a plea for more time; but they are wrong. Just months ago, a sale of the Financial Services business may have been a viable path to reduce leverage, however, their misguided strategy and poor execution has damaged the business to the point where a sale of the Financial Services business would do little to reduce debt. Even if the Company sells additional assets, there are no realistic paths to reduce leverage below 4.0x any time soon.

    The Engine Activist Group and Engine-led Board have no plan to deliver anywhere near a $20 per share price on a risk- or time-adjusted basis. All they will do is sell you vague and hypothetical outcomes. Shareholders need to immediately realize a sale of the entire Company for the large control premium available for the following reasons:

    • It is Too Risky Not to Sell: A misguided and haphazard strategy, coupled with poor execution has led to significantly declining financial performance and excessive borrowing over the last six months. This has resulted in a new 5.8x debt covenant being imposed on the business, which sell-side analysts estimate the Company will be precariously close to breaching in the coming quarters2, putting shareholder equity at real risk of further erosion.
    • Divesting Financial Services Doesn’t Solve the Problem: Today, a sale of the Financial Services business at ~11x Adjusted EBITDA still leaves leverage at ~4.5x, with no path to sub-3x until 20313. Further, speculative claims of multiple expansion following a sale of the Financial Services business are unfounded as the Company will be a smaller, declining business, with leverage too high for public market investors to tolerate.
    • Generous Assumptions Point to a Lower Share Price: Waiting is not an option. Assuming the Company maintains its current 7.9x trading multiple the implied share price in Q3 FY2026 will be between $4.77 and $7.444, with the low-end of the range assuming the Company misses revenue estimates by only 5%.
    • There Are Still Credible Interested Buyers at the Table Right Now: Given the current negative trajectory, shareholders should pursue a full sale to capture an attractive all-cash change-of-control premium. Credible private equity buyers with the right expertise, risk appetite, and who bring the appropriate capital structure, are interested in acquiring the Company right now.

    The Engine Activist Group Has Usurped the Board and Now Dye & Durham is Not Suited to Operate as a Public Company.

    A revolving door of executives has destabilized the business and eradicated irreplaceable institutional memory at the worst possible time. The Company is now on its fourth CEO in six months, and its second CFO. Numerous other executives and employees at all levels have left or been terminated, with employee turnover now reportedly reaching 25%, compared to low single digits previously, creating paralysis and leaving the business rudderless. Retaining even a portion of this critical institutional knowledge would have informed better decision making and helped avoid multiple strategic blunders.

    In what appears to be an act of desperation, the Board delegated the recruitment of a new CEO and CFO to the principal of OneMove and a representative of EdgePoint, and in doing so appointed an unproven first-time CEO, with no public company or capital allocation experience, and a new CFO. They then granted the pair nearly 5% of the Company in options priced at just $10 per share. The pair stand to pocket over $30 million simply for getting shareholders back to where they were in December 2024.

    Plantro understands there is also ongoing infighting at the Board level that has a created a situation where management cannot operate effectively, and established governance structures are breaking down. Plantro has learned the Company was recently forced to engage an independent third party mediator to help navigate basic internal operations as a result of repeated shareholder-level interference with management. This kind of shareholder “skip-level” behaviour, where investors directly bypass a board of directors and provide instruction directly to management, is confusing and creates potential for further executive attrition. It is also virtually unheard of in a public company and raises serious concerns about accountability and proper oversight.

    Plantro’s Highly Qualified Nominees Are Committed to Leading a Process to Sell Dye & Durham.

    The Plantro nominees collectively bring experience in M&A, capital allocation, operations, technology, governance, public and private board service, and direct senior experience at Dye & Durham (which is necessary given excessive executive turnover under the Engine Activist Group). Together they have the right mix of skills, experience, expertise, and shareholder-centric perspective to stabilize Dye & Durham, and immediately commence a well-governed and thoughtful process to sell the Company for the highest price possible.

    Each of Plantro’s highly qualified individuals is independent of Plantro and each other, and will act as true fiduciaries with a mandate to preserve and maximize shareholder value:

    • Brian J. Bidulka, CPA, CA, is a corporate director and chartered accountant with extensive experience in technology, finance, and business analytics. Brian is the former Chief Financial Officer of Research in Motion. He has also served in senior executive roles at major Canadian companies including Porter Airlines, Postmedia, George Weston Limited, and Molson Coors. Currently, he is a member of the board at Andrew Peller Limited, and is also a board member and treasurer of Canada Basketball.
    • David Danziger, CPA, CA, is an experienced finance leader and corporate director with an extensive background in audit, accounting, and management consulting. Previously, he was the Senior Vice President, Assurance, and the National Leader of Public Companies at MNP LLP, Canada’s fifth largest accounting firm. David continues to serve as a Senior Advisor for MNP LLP working on special projects and supporting the Public Company Audit Team nationally. David has served as a director for a range of technology, mining, and life sciences companies listed on the TSX, TSXV, CSE, and NYSE.
    • Martha Vallance is a corporate director with significant experience in M&A, capital markets and technology. Most recently, Martha was the Chief Operating Officer of Dye & Durham after previously establishing and leading the company’s Corporate Development function and has deep knowledge of the company’s strategy and operations. Prior to this, Martha spent over 12 years in Investment & Corporate Banking at BMO Capital Markets, most recently holding a series of senior roles within both the Mergers & Acquisitions and Equity Capital Markets teams. In addition, Martha served as a Director on the Board of TSX-listed TMAC Resources and was also a member of the Special Committee during the sale of the company which concluded in January 2021.

    Plantro proposes that shareholders support incumbent directors Hans T. Gieskes, the recently deposed independent chairman of the Board, Anthony P. Kinnear, Sid Singh, and Eric Shahinian to maintain continuity on the Board. Both Gieskes and Singh served as interim CEOs of the Company, and collectively, these individuals have relevant C-Suite, public company, and capital markets experience at other companies.

    Plantro remains supportive of management and believes stability is required to execute a successful sales process and restore value to shareholders.

    Shareholders Need to Make their Voices Heard

    There is no debate – Dye & Durham does not have a viable long-term path as a public company and must be sold. The Board and management will claim they need more time, but the status quo for shareholders is simply intolerable. While the business drifts and headwinds build, the risks to Dye & Durham and its shareholders continue to accumulate. The time for decisive action has arrived.

    Plantro has heard from many shareholders who share its contention that the Company must run a formal sale process to preserve and maximize shareholder value. Now is the time to speak up. It is imperative that shareholders communicate their views directly to the Board and urge them to call and hold the Special Meeting without delay so the Company can be sold. Alternatively, the Board can spare shareholders the cost and distraction of a proxy contest, appoint the Plantro nominees to the Board, and commence a formal sale process immediately.

    Please visit www.SellDnd.com to view Plantro’s presentation to fellow shareholders and other important materials.

    Other Information Concerning the Plantro Nominees

    To the knowledge of Plantro, no Plantro nominee is, at the date hereof, or has been, within ten (10) years before the date hereof: (a) a director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer of any company that (i) was subject to a cease trade order, an order similar to a cease trade order or an order that denied the relevant company access to any exemption under securities legislation that was in effect for a period of more than thirty (30) consecutive days (each, an “order”), in each case that was issued while the Plantro nominee was acting in the capacity as director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer, or (ii) was subject to an order that was issued after the Plantro nominee ceased to be a director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer and which resulted from an event that occurred while that person was acting in the capacity as director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer; (b) a director or executive officer of any company that, while such Plantro nominee was acting in that capacity, or within one (1) year of such Plantro nominee ceasing to act in that capacity, became bankrupt, made a proposal under any legislation relating to bankruptcy or insolvency or was subject to or instituted any proceedings, arrangement or compromise with creditors or had a receiver, receiver manager or trustee appointed to hold its assets; or (c) someone who became bankrupt, made a proposal under any legislation relating to bankruptcy or insolvency, or became subject to or instituted any proceedings, arrangement or compromise with creditors, or had a receiver, receiver manager or trustee appointed to hold the assets of such Plantro nominee.

    To the knowledge of Plantro, as at the date hereof, no Plantro nominee has been subject to: (a) any penalties or sanctions imposed by a court relating to securities legislation, or by a securities regulatory authority, or has entered into a settlement agreement with a securities regulatory authority; or (b) any other penalties or sanctions imposed by a court or regulatory body that would likely be considered important to a reasonable securityholder in deciding whether to vote for a Plantro nominee.

    To the knowledge of Plantro, none of the directors or officers of Plantro, or any associates or affiliates of the foregoing, or any of the Plantro nominees or their respective associates or affiliates, has: (a) any material interest, direct or indirect, in any transaction since the commencement of the Company’s most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction which has materially affected or will materially affect the Company or any of its subsidiaries; or (b) any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter proposed to be acted on at the Special Meeting, other than the re-constitution of the Board.

    Plantro beneficially owns and controls 7,374,510 common shares representing approximately 11% of the outstanding shares of the Company. Martha Vallance beneficially owns and controls 38,600 common shares, representing approximately 0.06% of the outstanding shares of the Company. She also holds options to acquire an additional 425,433 common shares. Assuming full exercise of these options, she would beneficially own and control 464,033 common shares, representing approximately 0.69% of the then-outstanding shares of the Company, on a partially diluted basis. While the other Concerned Shareholder Nominees may purchase shares in the future, not of the other Concerned Shareholder Nominees currently hold any units of the Company.

    Additional Information

    The information contained in this news release does not and is not meant to constitute a solicitation of a proxy within the meaning of applicable corporate and securities laws. Although Plantro has requisitioned the Special Meeting, there is currently no record or meeting date and shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute a proxy in favour of the Plantro nominees or any other matter to be acted upon at the Special Meeting. In connection with the Special Meeting, Plantro may file a dissident information circular (the “Information Circular”) in due course in compliance with applicable corporate and securities laws.

    Notwithstanding the foregoing, Plantro is voluntarily providing the disclosure required under section 9.2(4) of National Instrument 51-102 – Continuous Disclosure Obligations (“NI 51-102”) and has filed this news release containing disclosure prescribed by applicable corporate law and disclosure required under section 9.2(6) of NI 51-102 in respect of Engine’s director nominees, in accordance with corporate and securities laws applicable to public broadcast solicitations. This news release is available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

    This news release and any solicitation made by Plantro in advance of the Special Meeting is, or will be, as applicable, made by Plantro and not by or on behalf of the management of the Company. All costs incurred for any solicitation will be borne by Plantro, provided that, subject to applicable law, Plantro may seek reimbursement from the Company of Plantro’s out-of-pocket expenses, including proxy solicitation expenses and legal fees, incurred in connection with a successful reconstitution of the Board.

    Plantro is not soliciting proxies in connection with the Special Meeting at this time, and shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute proxies in favour of the Plantro nominees (in respect of the Special Meeting) or any matter to be acted upon at the Special Meeting. Proxies may be solicited by Plantro pursuant to an Information Circular sent to shareholders after which solicitations may be made by or on behalf of Plantro, by mail, telephone, fax, email or other electronic means as well as by newspaper or other media advertising, and in person by directors, officers and employees of Plantro, who will not be specifically remunerated therefor. Plantro may also solicit proxies in reliance upon the public broadcast exemption to the solicitation requirements under applicable Canadian corporate and securities laws, conveyed by way of public broadcast, including through press releases, speeches or publications, and by any other manner permitted under applicable corporate and securities laws. Plantro may engage the services of one or more agents and authorize other persons to assist in soliciting proxies on behalf of Plantro.

    Plantro has retained Morrow Sodali (Canada) Ltd. (“Sodali”) as its proxy advisor to assist Plantro in soliciting shareholders should Plantro commence a formal solicitation of proxies, for which Sodali will receive a fee not to exceed $200,000 plus a per call fee and certain success fees, together with reimbursement for reasonable and out-of-pocket expenses, and will be indemnified against certain liabilities and expenses, including certain liabilities under securities laws. Sodali’s responsibilities will principally include advising Plantro on governance best practices, where applicable, liaising with proxy advisory firms, developing and implementing shareholder engagement strategies, and advising with respect to meeting and proxy protocol.

    Plantro is not requesting that Dye & Durham shareholders submit a proxy at this time. Once Plantro has commenced a formal solicitation of proxies in connection with the Special Meeting, proxies may be revoked by instrument in writing by the shareholder giving the proxy or by its duly authorized officer or attorney, or in any other manner permitted by law (including subsection 110(4) of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario)). None of Plantro or, to its knowledge, any of its associates or affiliates, has any material interest, direct or indirect, (i) in any transaction since the beginning of Dye & Durham’s most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction that has materially affected or would materially affect Dye & Durham or any of its subsidiaries; or (ii) by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter proposed to be acted on at the Special Meeting, other than the election of directors to the Board.

    Dye & Durham’s principal office address is 25 York St., Suite 1100, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2V5. A copy of this news release may be obtained on Dye & Durham’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

    Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

    Certain information in this news release may constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “should,” “plans,” “continue,” or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Forward-looking information in this news release may include, but is not limited to, statements of Plantro regarding (i) how Plantro intends to exercise its legal rights as a shareholder of the Company, and (ii) its plans to make changes at the Board of the Company.

    Although Plantro believes that the expectations reflected in any such forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements including, without limitation, the risks that (i) the Company may use tactics to thwart the rights of Plantro as a shareholder and (ii) the actions being proposed and the changes being demanded by Plantro, may not take place for any reason whatsoever. Except as required by law, Plantro does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

    About Plantro

    Plantro is a privately held company, with an established track record of making successful investments in undervalued and high quality legal, financial, and information services businesses.

    Media Contact

    Gagnier Communications
    Riyaz Lalani / Dan Gagnier
    Plantro@gagnierfc.com

    ____________________________________
    1    Source: CapIQ: based off of analyst consensus adjusted EBITDA estimates and Plantro’s calculations which are available within the investor presentation on www.SellDnD.com
    2The Company’s Consolidated First Lien Net Leverage Ratio will be materially higher in two quarters from now when it loses the ability to offset $185 million in restricted cash it holds to repay its 2026 convertible debentures, against its senior debt. Based on sell-side consensus estimates, the Company will be much closer to breaching its Consolidated First Lien Net Leverage Ratio covenant, should it remain in place.
    3Assumes 0.5% annual Adjusted EBITDA growth after the sale of financial services based off trailing 9-month results as at Q3 FY25; Further details on Plantro’s assumptions and calculations are available within the investor presentation on www.SellDnD.com
    4Future share price applies current EV / LTM EBITDA multiple to LTM EBITDA ending March 31, 2026 based on research consensus estimates and adjusting for net debt forecasted as at March 31, 2026 with cash flow assumptions as further detailed in the presentation available at www.SellDnD.com.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Misinformation lends itself to social contagion – here’s how to recognize and combat it

    Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Shaon Lahiri, Assistant Professor of Public Health, College of Charleston

    Misinformation on social media has the potential to manipulate millions of people. Pict Rider/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    In 2019, a rare and shocking event in the Malaysian peninsula town of Ketereh grabbed international headlines. Nearly 40 girls age 12 to 18 from a religious school had been screaming inconsolably, claiming to have seen a “face of pure evil,” complete with images of blood and gore.

    Experts believe that the girls suffered what is known as a mass psychogenic illness, a psychological condition that results in physical symptoms and spreads socially – much like a virus.

    I’m a social and behavioral scientist within the field of public health. I study the ways in which individual behavior is influenced by prevailing social norms and social network processes, across a wide range of behaviors and contexts. Part of my work involves figuring out how to combat the spread of harmful content that can shape our behavior for the worse, such as misinformation.

    Mass psychogenic illness is not misinformation, but it gives researchers like me some idea about how misinformation spreads. Social connections establish pathways of influence that can facilitate the spread of germs, mental illness and even behaviors. We can be profoundly influenced by others within our social networks, for better or for worse.

    The spreading of social norms

    Researchers in my field think of social norms as perceptions of how common and how approved a specific behavior is within a specific network of people who matter to us.

    These perceptions may not always reflect reality, such as when people overestimate or underestimate how common their viewpoint is within a group. But they can influence our behavior nonetheless. For many, perception is reality.

    Social norms and related behaviors can spread through social networks like a virus can, but with one crucial caveat. Viruses often require just one contact with a potential host to spread, whereas behaviors often require multiple contacts to spread. This phenomenon, known as complex contagion, highlights how socially learned behaviors take time to embed.

    Watch the people in this video and see how you react.

    Fiction spreads faster than fact

    Consider a familiar scenario: the return of baggy jeans to the fashion zeitgeist.

    For many millennials like me, you may react to a friend engaging in this resurrected trend by cringing and lightly teasing them. Yet, after seeing them don those denim parachutes on multiple occasions, a brazen thought may emerge: “Hmm, maybe they don’t look that bad. I could probably pull those off.” That’s complex contagion at work.

    This dynamic is even more evident on social media. One of my former students expressed this succinctly. She was looking at an Instagram post about Astro Boy Boots – red, oversize boots based on those worn by a 1952 Japanese cartoon character. Her initial skepticism quickly faded upon reading the comments. As she put it, “I thought they were ugly at first, but after reading the comments, I guess they’re kind of fire.”

    Moving from innocuous examples, consider the spread of misinformation on social media. Misinformation is false information that is spread unintentionally, while disinformation is false information that is intentionally disseminated to deceive or do serious harm.

    Research shows that both misinformation and disinformation spread faster and farther than truth online. This means that before people can muster the resources to debunk the false information that has seeped into their social networks, they may have already lost the race. Complex contagion may have taken hold, in a malicious way, and begun spreading falsehood throughout the network at a rapid pace.

    People spread false information for various reasons, such as to advance their personal agenda or narrative, which can lead to echo chambers that filter out accurate information contrary to one’s own views. Even when people do not intend to spread false information online, doing so tends to happen because of a lack of attention paid to accuracy or lower levels of digital media literacy.

    Inoculation against social contagion

    So how much can people do about this?

    One way to combat harmful contagion is to draw on an idea first used in the 1960s called pre-bunking. The idea is to train people to practice skills to spot and resist misinformation and disinformation on a smaller scale before they’re exposed to the real thing.

    The idea is akin to vaccines that build immunity through exposure to a weakened form of the disease-causing germ. The idea is for someone to be exposed to a limited amount of false information, say through the pre-bunking with Google quiz. They then learn to spot common manipulation tactics used in false information and learn how to resist their influence with evidence-based strategies to counter the falsehoods. This could also be done using a trained facilitator within classrooms, workplaces or other groups, including virtual communities.

    Then, the idea is to gradually repeat the process with larger doses of false information and further counterarguments. By role-playing and practicing the counterarguments, this resistance skills training provides a sort of psychological innoculation against misinformation and disinformation, at least temporarily.

    Importantly, this approach is intended for someone who has not yet been exposed to false information – hence, pre-bunking rather than debunking. If we want to engage with someone who firmly believes in their stance, particularly when it runs contrary to our own, behavioral scientists recommend leading with empathy and nonjudgmentally exchanging narratives.

    Debunking is difficult work, however, and even strong debunking messages can result in the persistence of misinformation. You may not change the other person’s mind, but you may be able to engage in a civil discussion and avoid pushing them further away from your position.

    Spreading facts, not fiction

    When everyday people apply this with their friends and loved ones, they can train people to recognize the telltale signs of false information. This might be recognizing what’s known as a false dichotomy – for instance, “either you support this bill or you HATE our country.”

    Another signal of false information is the common tactic of scapegoating: “Oil industry faces collapse due to rise in electric car ownership.” And another is the slippery slope of logical fallacy. An example is “legalization of marijuana will lead to everyone using heroin.”

    All of these are examples of common tactics that spread misinformation and come from a Practical Guide to Pre-Bunking Misinformation, created by a collaborative team from the University of Cambridge, BBC Media Action and Jigsaw, an interdisciplinary think tank within Google.

    This approach is not only effective in combating misinformation and disinformation, but also in delaying or preventing the onset of harmful behaviors. My own research suggests that pre-bunking can be used effectively to delay the initiation of tobacco use among adolescents. But it only works with regular “booster shots” of training, or the effect fades away in a matter of months or less.

    Many researchers like me who study these social contagion dynamics don’t yet know the best way to keep these “booster shots” going in people’s lives. But there are recent studies showing that it can be done. A promising line of research also suggests that a group-based approach can be effective in maintaining the pre-bunking effects to achieve psychological herd immunity. Personally, I would bet my money on group-based approaches where you, your friends or your family can mutually reinforce each other’s capacity to resist harmful social norms entering your network.

    Simply put, if multiple members of your social network have strong resistance skills, then your group has a better chance of resisting the incursion of harmful norms and behaviors into your network than if it’s just you resisting alone. Other people matter.

    In the end, whether we’re empowering people to resist the insidious creep of online falsehoods or equipping adolescents to stand firm against peer pressure to smoke or use other substances, the research is clear: Resistance skills training can provide an essential weapon for safeguarding ourselves and young people from harmful behaviors.

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

    – ref. Misinformation lends itself to social contagion – here’s how to recognize and combat it – https://theconversation.com/misinformation-lends-itself-to-social-contagion-heres-how-to-recognize-and-combat-it-254298

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: What schools can learn from skate culture

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sander Hölsgens, Assistant Professor, Leiden Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University

    Dean Drobot/Shutterstock

    At a school in Malmö, Sweden, skateboarding is on the curriculum. John Dahlquist, vice principal of Bryggeriets High School, teaches skate classes and brings lessons from skateboarding into other subjects. By encouraging teenagers to have fun together through skating and beyond, he notices that they want to attend school. Writing in a recent book I co-edited on skateboarding and teaching, Dahlquist notes that he even sees students longing to be back in the classroom after the weekend.

    Skateboarding is creative, requiring ingenuity in adapting to new environments. It’s collaborative and social: skaters cheer each other on when they try to learn something new, acknowledging that everyone operates at a different level and faces a distinct challenge.

    When skateboarding is done well, individual growth takes place among a community of care and mutual support. And it requires a willingness to fail. There’s no way to master a trick without trying and failing, over and over again.

    My colleagues and I have researched the value of a skateboarding philosophy in schools, and how teachers can bring it into their classrooms.

    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.

    Take Dahlquist’s teaching in Malmö. He notes that interweaving skate classes with other subjects has multiple noteworthy effects. The physical activity of skateboarding improves levels of concentration. Some students even say that they’d never been successful in any other learning environment. Elsewhere, they’d be unable to focus on the task at hand.

    What’s more, a skateboarding mindset – being prepared to learn difficult tricks in unfamiliar settings – equipped students with the capacity to master other kinds of new skills.

    Able to fail

    The process of overcoming the anxiety to fail is crucial. Skaters cannot be afraid to fall if they want to learn new tricks. The motivation to learn through repeated efforts helps skaters in other areas of life, too. Skaters at Bryggeriet aren’t worried as much about failing grades, precisely because they see it as an opportunity to learn and move forward.

    As Dahlquist says, “At the end of my classes, I usually have to throw my students out of the classroom. A lot of them beg for three more tries: ‘I’ve got this, just give me three more tries. I promise I will learn.‘”

    This mindset decreases grades as education’s cornerstone and, by extension, enhances students’ mental health. My colleague Esther Sayers, who conducted fieldwork at Bryggeriets, found another effect. Teachers help students to develop the skills to get motivated, to reach a point of feeling inspired – or what skaters call “stoke”.

    Skateboarding fosters a non-competitive learning culture.
    PeopleImages.com – Yuri A

    Bryggeriets High School isn’t the only place where skateboarding is helping teach people how to learn. Reaching beyond its historical status as a self-regulated street culture, skateboarding now plays an important role in building engaged learning communities across the globe. Berlin-based skate organisation Skateistan hosts skate classes, gives young people access to education and offers funds for young and upcoming community leaders.

    Concrete Jungle Foundation co-builds skateparks with young people in Peru, Morocco and Jamaica, in order to exchange knowledge and drive local ownership and apprenticeship. Similarly, the New York-based Harold Hunter Foundation runs skate workshops that also provide mentoring and career guidance.

    Colleagues Arianna Gil and Jessica Forsyth have studied working class black and Latin American skate crews, run by genderdiverse community organisers. They found that skate crews such as Brujas and Gang Corp mobilise skaters according to the “for us, by us” spirit.

    Challenging institutional models of authority, these skate crews develop services based on the hopes and aspirations of their communities – ranging from teach-ins to recreational programmes. This includes a talk on the history and meaning of hoodies, and modules on the power of storytelling and the danger of propaganda. The crux, here, is to learn about stuff you encounter in your daily lives.

    Skaters who experience poverty and oppression create their own ecosystem for learning from one another, from being out of an educational system that is organised in a top-down way. This means creating a grassroots school model where skate crews choose what and how they want to learn. Rather than grades and degrees, education here is structured around the process of learning from your peers – with the idea of passing on this knowledge in the near future.

    The effects of this approach are threefold. First, it centers mentorship and apprenticeship, resulting in intergenerational knowledge exchange. Second, skateboarding’s DIY spirit can help overcome access barriers. By embracing grassroots teaching practices and formats, education can be tailored to the specific needs and desires of a community, rather than following standardised learning objectives.

    Third, rather than focusing on memorising facts or learning for grades, this new ecosystem is structured around problem-based learning. Presented with worldly problems such as human rights violations and hostile architecture, skaters learn not just how to analyse their surroundings, but also how to cope with and engage oppressive societal structures.

    As formal education faces incremental budget cuts and deepened governmental influence, skateboarding shows us new ways to organise our learning spaces. Schools and teachers can engage their students by integrating aspects of a learning culture that decentres evaluations and assessments and celebrates attempts, rather than just successes.

    Sander Hölsgens received a ‘starting grant’ from OCW, The Netherlands. He is affiliated with Pushing Boarders, a platform tracing the social impact of skateboarding worldwide.

    – ref. What schools can learn from skate culture – https://theconversation.com/what-schools-can-learn-from-skate-culture-255239

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: What people really want from their GP – it’s simpler than you might think

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Helen Atherton, Professor of Primary Care Research, University of Southampton

    Stephen Barnes/Shutterstock.com

    Booking a GP appointment is a routine task, yet for many people it’s a source of frustration. Long waits, confusing systems and impersonal processes have become all too familiar. While much attention has been paid to how difficult it is to get an appointment, less research has asked a more fundamental question: what do patients actually want from their general practice?

    To answer this, my colleagues and I reviewed 33 studies that were a mixture of study designs, and focused on patients’ expectations and preferences regarding access to their GP in England and Scotland.

    What people wanted was not complicated or cutting edge. People were looking for connection; a friendly receptionist and good communication from the practice about how they could expect to make an appointment. And they wanted a general practice in their own neighbourhood with clean, calm waiting rooms. So far, so simple.

    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.

    People wanted booking systems that were simple and user-friendly, without long automated phone menus (“press one for reception”). Preferences varied. Some patients valued the option to book appointments in person at the reception desk, while others preferred the convenience of online booking.

    Regardless of how they booked, patients wanted shorter waiting times or, at least, clear information about when they could expect an appointment or a callback.

    Ideally, general practice would be open on Saturdays and Sundays for those who cannot attend during the week.

    Remote consultations – by phone, video or email – have become more common since the pandemic, and many patients found them helpful. For those with caring responsibilities or mobility issues, they offered a convenient way to access care without needing to leave home.

    However, remote appointments weren’t suitable for everyone. Some patients lacked privacy at work, while others – particularly those with hearing impairments – found telephone consultations difficult or impossible to use.

    What patients consistently wanted was choice, particularly when it came to remote consultations. While in-person appointments were seen as the gold standard, many recognised that telephone or video consultations could be useful in certain situations. Preferences varied widely, which made the ability to choose the type of consultation especially important.

    Patients also wanted choice over who they saw, especially for non-urgent issues or when managing ongoing health conditions.

    In today’s general practice, care is often delivered by a range of professionals, including nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists. While many patients were open to seeing different healthcare professionals, older adults and people from minority ethnic backgrounds were more likely to prefer seeing a GP.

    Overall, patients wanted the option to choose a GP over another healthcare professional – or at least be involved in that decision.

    Satisfaction at all-time low

    Unsurprisingly, what patients want from general practice varies, reflecting different lifestyles, needs and circumstances. But what was equally clear is that many people are not able to get what they want from the appointment system.

    According to a recent British Social Attitudes survey, patient satisfaction with general practice is at an all-time low, with just below one in three people reporting that they are very or quite satisfied with GP services.

    Some elements of the UK government’s recently announced ten-year plan for the NHS in England may address some of these concerns, but it remains far from certain. The emphasis on the NHS app as a “doctor in your pocket” does not align with what many patients are asking for: genuine choice over whether they access care online or in person.



    Read more:
    NHS ten-year plan for England: what’s in it and what’s needed to make it work

    Not everyone wants a doctor in their pocket.
    NHS/Shutterstock.com

    The proposal to open neighbourhood health centres on weekends could benefit those who need more flexible access. However, simply increasing the number of appointments misses the point: patients want more than just availability. They want care that is accessible, personalised and responsive to their individual needs.

    The evidence is clear and the solutions simple, yet patient satisfaction remains at an all-time low. The government must stop assuming technology is the answer and start listening to what patients are actually telling them. The cost of ignoring their voices is a healthcare system that serves no one well.

    Helen Atherton receives funding from the National Institute for Health Research and the Research Council of Norway.

    – ref. What people really want from their GP – it’s simpler than you might think – https://theconversation.com/what-people-really-want-from-their-gp-its-simpler-than-you-might-think-260520

    MIL OSI –