Primary care nurses must be paid the same as hospital nurses to fix the chronic staff shortages causing New Zealanders to be turned away from GP clinics, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says.
A Victoria University of Wellington study has found 36% of New Zealand’s general practices didn’t take new enrolments in 2024, withworkforce shortagescited as the major reason people were being turned away.
NZNO’s New Zealand College of Primary Health Care Nurses chair Tracey Morgan says the Coalition Government’s focus on the health sector is misdirected.
“While the Government is focused on the five health targets, they are ignoring the most pressing issue – chronic staff shortages in primary care.
“When people can’t get into their GP, they can end up at hospital even sicker. This puts more pressure on our already stretched hospitals and the Government’s own targets will be harder to meet,” Tracey Morgan says.
Primary care nurses are leaving GP clinics to work in hospitals because they get paid 18% more despite having the same skills and qualifications, she says.
“It is time for the Government to pay primary care nurses the same as their hospital counterparts and introduce a sustainable funding model for the primary care sector.
“Until this is done, it is everyday New Zealanders who are trying to see a doctor when they are sick who will pay the price.
“New Health Minister Simeon Brown has said he is ‘an advocate for everyday Kiwis who simply want timely, quality healthcare when they need it’. Here is his solution,” Tracey Morgan says.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Chancellor unveils new plans to deliver the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor that will boost the UK economy by up to £78 billion by 2035.
Rachel Reeves will today vow to go ‘further and faster’ to deliver the government’s Plan for Change to kick start economic growth and put more pounds in people’s pockets.
Chancellor to unveil plans to unleash the potential of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor that will add up to £78 billion to the UK economy according to industry experts, catalysing growth of UK science and technology.
Comes after Chancellor last week announced National Wealth Fund and Office for Investment will take new approaches to spur regional growth across the UK.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will today vow to go “further and faster” to kick start the economy, as she unveils new plans to deliver the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor that will boost the UK economy by up to £78 billion by 2035 according to industry experts.
In a speech in Oxfordshire, the Chancellor will tell regional and business leaders that economic growth is the number one mission of this government and its Plan for Change. She will declare that Britain’s economy has “huge potential” and is at the “forefront of some of the most exciting developments in the world like artificial intelligence and life sciences.”
She will back the redevelopment of Old Trafford and will review the Green Book – the government’s guidance on appraisal – in order to support decisions on public investment across the country, including outside London and the Southeast.
The speech comes after the Chancellor last week announced a new approach for the National Wealth Fund (NWF) and the Office for Investment (OfI) to work with local leaders to build pipelines of incoming investment and projects linked to regional growth priorities. This includes the NWF trialling Strategic Partnerships in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, and Glasgow City Region and the OfI piloting an approach in the Liverpool City Region and the North East Combined Authority to connect their regions to central government and industry expertise in order to unlock private investment.
Reeves will say “low growth is not our destiny, but that economic growth will not come without a fight. Without a government that is on the side of working people. Willing to take the right decisions now to change our country’s course for the better.”
The Chancellor is expected to say:
Britain is a country of huge potential. A country of strong communities, with local businesses at their heart.
We are the forefront of some of the most exciting developments in the world like artificial intelligence and life sciences. We have great companies based here delivering jobs and investment in Britain.
And we have fundamental strengths – in our history, our language, and our legal system – to compete in a global economy.
But for too long, that potential has been held back. For too long, we have accepted low expectations, accepted stagnation and accepted the risk of decline. We can do so much better.
Low growth is not our destiny. But growth will not come without a fight. Without a government that is on the side of working people. Willing to take the right decisions now to change our country’s course for the better.
That’s what our Plan for Change is about. That is what drives me as Chancellor. And it is what I’m determined to deliver.
In her speech the Chancellor will announce:
The Environment Agency has lifted its objections to a new development around Cambridge that could unlock 4,500 new homes and associated community spaces such as schools and leisure facilities as well as office and laboratory space in Cambridge City Centre. This was only possible as a result of the government working closely with councils and regulators to find creative solutions to unlock growth and address environmental pressures.
That the government has agreed for water companies to unlock £7.9bn investment for the next 5 years to improve our water infrastructure and provide a foundation for growth. This includes nine new reservoirs, such as the new Fens Reservoir serving Cambridge and the Abingdon Reservoir near Oxford.
Confirming funding towards better transport links in the region including funding for East-West Rail, with new services between Oxford and Milton Keynes this year and upgrading the A428 to reduce journey times between Milton Keynes and Cambridge.
Prioritisation of a new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital as part of the New Hospitals Programme bringing together Cambridge University, Addenbrookes Hospital and Cancer Research UK.
Support for the development of new and expanded communities in the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor and a new East Coast Mainline station in Tempsford, to expand the region’s economy.
That she welcomes Cambridge University’s proposal for a new large scale innovation hub in the city centre. As the world’s leading science and tech cluster by intensity, Cambridge will play a crucial part in the government’s modern Industrial Strategy.
A new Growth Commission for Oxford, inspired by the Cambridge model, to review how best we can unlock and accelerate nationally significant growth for the city and surrounding area.
Appointment of Sir Patrick Vallance as Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor Champion to provide senior leadership to ensure the Government’s ambitions are delivered.
The Chancellor is expected to say:
Oxford and Cambridge offer huge economic potential for our nation’s growth prospects.
Just 66 miles apart these cities are home to two of the best universities in the world two of the most intensive innovation clusters in the world and the area is a hub for globally renowned science and technology firms in life sciences, manufacturing, and AI.
It has the potential to be Europe’s Silicon Valley. The home of British innovation.
To grow, these world-class companies need world-class talent who should be able to get to work quickly and find somewhere to live in the local area. But to get from Oxford to Cambridge by train takes two and a half hours.
There is no way to commute directly from towns like Bedford and Milton Keynes to Cambridge by rail. And there is a lack of affordable housing across the region.
Oxford and Cambridge are two of the least affordable cities in the UK. In other words, the demand is there but there are far too many supply side constraints on economic growth in the region.
Designed to take advantage of the region’s unique strengths and potential, the announcements are further evidence of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy in action as it seeks to create the right conditions to increase investment in our leading growth sectors like life sciences, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.
She will add:
Taken together, these announcements show that for the first time a government is providing real leadership to deliver this project with a clear strategy for the entire region backed by funding for the housing and infrastructure we so badly need.
The speech comes after the Chancellor last week announced a package of investment reforms to spur regional growth across the UK. Rachel Reeves set out a new approach for the National Wealth Fund (NWF) and the Office for Investment (OfI) to work with local leaders to build pipelines of incoming investment and projects linked to regional growth priorities. Putting local knowledge and leadership at the forefront, there will be tailored strategies for each region to ensure investment matches local needs and drives sustainable growth. Putting the government’s Plan for Change into action, the Chancellor set out that the goal is to harness growth everywhere to rebuild Britain and usher in a decade of national renewal. Measures included the NWF trialling Strategic Partnerships in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, and Glasgow City Region and the OfI piloting an approach in the Liverpool City Region and the North East Combined Authority to connect their regions to central government and industry expertise in order to unlock private investment.
Science Minister, Lord Patrick Vallance said:
The UK has all the ingredients to replicate the success of Silicon Valley or the Boston Cluster but for too long has been constrained by short termism and a lack of direction.
This government’s Plan for Change will see an end to that defeatism. I look forward to working with local leaders to fulfil the Oxford-Cambridge corridor’s potential by building on its existing strengths in academia, life sciences, semiconductors, AI and green technology amongst others.
Together we will build the infrastructure and partnerships needed to join up this region’s academia, investors and business so that we can boost growth, deliver innovations and create new jobs that improve all our lives.
Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander said:
Well connected communities are a cornerstone for growth. East West Rail will not only provide better links and lasting benefits to Oxford and Cambridge, but to all the surrounding areas.
I’m also delighted to announce a brand new station at Tempsford, which will be game changing for the region – allowing a new community and businesses to grow, unlocking faster and smoother access to opportunities, and delivering on the Government’s Plan for Change.
More details
Yesterday, Moderna completed the build for their new vaccine production and R&D site in Harwell, Oxfordshire. They have committed to invest over £1 billion in R&D in the UK, strengthening our position as a global leader in biopharmaceutical innovation.
£78 billion added to the UK economy. Source: Public First research for the Oxford-Cambridge Supercluster Board (2025).
Dr Andy Williams, Chair of the Oxford-Cambridge Supercluster Board said:
The announcements today are extremely positive for the region and for the country. As Chair of the OxCam Supercluster Board, which comprises 45 members across business, academia, and investors, we know that the region has the potential to deliver truly remarkable growth in the coming decade and beyond, as evidenced by the research published this week. Achieving £78 billion in cumulative economic value by 2035 requires us to work dynamically and pro-actively across government, the private sector, educational institutions, and the investment community, to fully harness OxCam’s strengths and address its weaknesses. With the experience and knowledge of Sir Patrick Vallance leading this effort, we are excited by the opportunity to co-design a policy prospectus that will allow the OxCam Growth Corridor to realise its potential as a global centre for science and innovation.
Dipesh J. Shah OBE, Chair of the Oxford to Cambridge Partnership said:
I welcome the Chancellor’s drive to accelerate growth in the Oxford to Cambridge corridor and her support for strategic investments in enabling infrastructure. The region houses internationally acclaimed clusters of innovation in each of the growth sectors for the nation. Already one of the world’s great science powerhouses, the region’s full potential will rely on connecting its incredible ecosystems of businesses, places and communities. Investments announced today will spur more and will help local leaders to deliver on their ambitious plans for their communities.
Professor Alistair Fitt, Chair of Arc Universities Group and Vice-Chancellor Oxford Brookes University said:
This region hosts a great diversity and scale of universities. Together we offer a wide range of key contributions: globally renowned research brilliance, the powerhouse of skills provision provided by cutting edge teaching, world class knowledge transfer and commercialisation. Our universities, working in close partnership, in alliance with others – particular the private sector – are organised into the Arc Universities Group. We stand ready for the challenge. We welcome the oversight and experience that the leadership of Sir Patrick Vallance brings to the region, and we look forward to helping deliver the Chancellor’s aspirations for growth.
Darius Hughes, UK General Manager for Moderna said:
We are proud to call Oxfordshire our home with the recent completion of construction of the Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre in Harwell. Today’s announcement demonstrates the government’s commitment to growth and innovation, and we look forward to delivering British-made vaccines to the UK public, advancing cutting-edge research, and strengthening partnerships in this globally significant region.
Steve Bates, CEO of the UK Bioindustry Association said:
The UK is a global leader in biotech innovation and attracts the most venture capital in Europe. New figures we’ve published this week show that biotech is a vibrant growth sector of the UK economy with an exceptional ability to attract global investment. Delivering the infrastructure needed to support the growth at pace – especially in the Oxford Cambridge growth corridor- is key to the success of our sector.
The government is continuing to work with local partners to deliver sustainable growth in Cambridge, with the additional homes and infrastructure the city needs. Peter Freeman and the Cambridge Growth Company are building the evidence base for an infrastructure-first growth strategy to realise the full potential of Cambridge and improve lives for residents.
The Chancellor today announced that delivery of a new East Coast Mainline station in Tempsford will be accelerated by 3-5 years. The station will link services directly to London, with services in under an hour. It will eventually also be an interchange with the East West Rail station.
The A428 (Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet) scheme will improve journeys between Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge. The scheme will see a new 10-mile dual carriageway delivered, as well as three grade separated junctions, three tier at Black Cat roundabout (A1/A421) and two tier at Cambridge Road (B1428) and Caxton Gibbet (A428/A1198) junctions, respectively. Main construction began in December 2023 and the road is expected to open in 2027.
The Environment Agency have lifted their opposition to new development around Cambridge (Waterbeach and the Beehive centre). This unlocks the delivery of 4,500 new homes and associated community spaces such as schools and leisure facilities as well as office and laboratory space in Cambridge City Centre. This demonstrates how the government, councils, and regulators are working together to find solutions that unlock growth and address environmental pressures.
The government has agreed water companies’ water resources management plans, including Cambridge Water’s, unlocking a now-confirmed £7.9bn investment in water resources in the next 5 years to provide a foundation for growth and improving our water infrastructure. These plans include nine new reservoirs, including the new Fens Reservoir serving Cambridge to South East Strategic Reservoir Option (Abingdon Reservoir) near Oxford.
The Chancellor will announce a new Growth Commission for Oxford, similar to the Cambridge Growth Company to bring together key stakeholders across the city and review how best to tackle the barriers that are constraining development of new housing and infrastructure to accelerate growth in the city.
AI Growth Zones, as recommended in the AI Action Plan launched by the PM earlier this month, are designated areas designed to fast-track the development of AI-focused data centres and supporting infrastructure. By concentrating government support on planning and energy, AIGZs aim to attract significant private investment, accelerate the build-out of critical AI infrastructure, and drive local economic regeneration. The first AI Growth Zone will be in Culham, Oxfordshire and the Chancellor today announced a ‘call for expressions of interest’ from regional and local authorities and industry, to inform the next stage of the AI Growth Zones programme. This will help us understand early opportunities and inform the next stage of the programme in what the government regards as a key growth sector in its modern Industrial Strategy.
On Monday 20th January the Health Secretary announced the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital is being prioritised for investment as part of wave 1 of the New Hospital Programme. This scheme will improve cancer survival rates by centralising Cambridge University Hospital cancer services under one roof and will further improve the proposition for the life sciences sector in the region, with AstraZeneca and CRUK researchers co-located at the facility, integrating the clinical and research models of cancer services. In doing so it will help create three new research institutes to be integrated with NHS clinical care helping to provide 10 new clinical trials per year and foster increased collaboration between top scientists and clinicians.
The Chancellor will welcome Cambridge University’s plans for a new largescale innovation hub in the heart of the city. The Global Innovation Index (GII) 2024 has ranked Cambridge as the world’s leading science and technological cluster by intensity for the third consecutive year.
Headline: Federal Disaster Assistance Tops $24.6 Million for Chaves Residents
Federal Disaster Assistance Tops $24.6 Million for Chaves Residents
ROSWELL, New Mexico — It has been just over three months since former President Joe Biden declared a major disaster for the state of New Mexico following the Oct. 19-20 Severe Storm and Flooding in Chaves County. To date, more than $24.6 million in federal assistance has been approved for New Mexican families affected by the disaster.FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) have approved grants and loans for more than 3,000 recovering homeowners, renters and businesses in Chaves County. This assistance helps pay for eligible losses and disaster-related damage repair and replacement of homes and personal property, temporary housing, cleaning and sanitizing, moving and storage, childcare, medical and dental expenses and other needs of New Mexicans affected by the storm and flooding.“FEMA collaborates closely with all our federal, state and local stakeholders to help New Mexicans affected by the disaster as they recover. We must remember that this is a long-term effort, but one that will be critical in building a more resilient and stronger Roswell,” said José Gil Montañez, Federal Coordinating Officer for New Mexico.As of Jan. 27, FEMA Individual Assistance totaled more than $17.8 million in grants to eligible homeowners and renters, including:More than $8.88 million in housing grants to help pay for home repair, home replacement and rental assistance for temporary housing. More than $8.94 million in grants to help pay for personal property replacement and other serious disaster-related needs, such as moving and storage fees, transportation, childcare, and medical and dental expenses. FEMA Voluntary Agency Liaisons (VALs)The VALs mission is to establish, foster and maintain relationships among government, voluntary, faith-based and community partners. Through these relationships, the VALs support the delivery of inclusive and equitable services and empower and strengthen capabilities of communities to address disaster caused unmet needs. In addition, VALs coordinate with local partners to assist with the collection and distribution of in-kind and monetary donations to aid in the Chaves County recovery process. By coordinating appeals through local Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOADs), the VALs have identified nearly $146,000 in additional FEMA Individual Assistance for Chaves County recovery. State and local VOADs have also distributed more than $461,000 in financial assistance to Chaves County survivors to support immediate needs and recovery efforts.Public Assistance FEMA’s Public Assistance (PA) program for the October flooding reimburses the state, counties, local governments, tribes, and certain private nonprofits (including houses of worship) for eligible costs of disaster-related debris removal and emergency protective measures. PA in Chaves County is available, on a cost -sharing basis: FEMA pays 75%, the state 25%. FEMA has received eight applications for project funding under the PA program. Of those, seven projects are now under review. Small Business AdministrationThe U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved more than $6.8 million in long-term, low-interest disaster loans to homeowners, renters, businesses and non-profit organizations. Of that amount, more than $6 million was approved for homeowners and renters with over $2.9 million distributed. Approving more than $476,000 to Chaves – County business, SBA has distributed over $300,000 to assist in their recovery.Applicants may apply at https://lending.sba.gov. Business owners also may apply in-person by visiting SBA Business Recovery Center at the Eastern New Mexico University Roswell Arts and Sciences Center. The deadline to apply to SBA for property damage was Jan, 2, 2025. The deadline to apply for economic injury is Aug. 1, 2025.For the latest information on the Chaves County recovery, visit fema.gov/disaster/4843. Follow FEMA Region 6 on social media at x.com/FEMARegion6 and facebook.com/femaregion6 alexa.brown Tue, 01/28/2025 – 20:43
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
A report by by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) looks at climate change and the likelihood of wildfire disaster in LA.
Prof Gabi Hegerl FRS, Professor of Climate System Science, University of Edinburgh, said:
“Given the short timeline that WWA aims for this is a very thorough analysis of the role of climate change and also El Nino conditions contributing to the fires in Los Angeles. The authors determine several factors that have contributed to this disaster, from severely dry conditions to high fire weather indices, late arrival of winter rains etc. Several of these factors point to high fire risk, both due to El Nino conditions and global warming. Overall the paper finds that climate change has made the Los Angeles fires more likely despite some statistical uncertainty. This is a carefully researched result that should be taken seriously. El Ninos come and go, but as long as the climate warms we will continue to see increasing risk of this hazard. Adapting to it will help, and the authors make some suggestions, but this example is one of many of how climate change increases the risk of deadly and costly disasters.”
Dr Karsten Haustein, Climate Scientist, Leipzig University, said:
“I remember a stark and dire warning of an US-based weather forecaster just before the fires. Sadly, he was absolutely spot on. The extremely hazardous mix of dry and windy conditions led to unprecedented destruction, displacing tens of thousands of people and costing billions of dollars. Naturally, folks want to know what role climate change played in this catastrophic disaster.
“Following two very rapid attribution studies by teams from UCLA (California) and IPSL-CNRS (France), now WWA has released their comprehensive rapid attribution study. The former two have already highlighted that climate change did play a role and made the fires more likely. Especially the so-called ‘hydroclimate whiplash’, where wetter than average years are followed by drier than average years, contributed to the devastating outcome. While these year-to-year variations are normal given the strong ENSO teleconnection in the region (El Niño leads to wetter conditions and vice versa for La Niña), now wet gets wetter and dry gets drier for longer.
“Hence one of the key messages of the WWA study is that the dry season in the region lasts longer than it used to be (23 days), increasing the risk for very dry conditions to overlap with strong (St Ana) winds, which occur mainly in winter. While WWA does not find increasing wind speeds during St Ana events, they do find that the risk for such a dry season has already increased by 35%, with a 6% increase in fire intensity.
“WWA highlights that a more in-depth analysis is required to make conclusive statements about changes in atmospheric circulation that favour such cut-off lows. But the thermodynamic climate change fingerprint (drier and warmer) is clearly present. So is the problem of exposure in the region. Houses are not build to withstand fire. Instead, they are fuelling the fires. A tinderbox when combined with built up vegetation from the preceding two wet seasons. All these aspects are meticulously discussed in WWA’s new attribution study.
“Their press release accurately summarises the scientific findings. The team involved was larger than ever, including the UCLA colleagues mentioned above. All methods used to conduct the analysis are peer-reviewed. The results do confirm prior research such as, for example, the hypothesised ‘hydroclimate whiplash’. The team also mentions the deficits of global climate models to simulate such wind events, which is why no attribution statement regarding the frequency of occurrence or magnitude of the St Ana winds is made.”
‘Climate change increased the likelihood of wildfire disaster in highly exposed Los Angeles area’ by Clair Barnes et al. was published by World Weather Attribution at 22:00 UK time on Tuesday 28 January 2025.
Declared interests
Prof Gabi Hegerl: “No competing interests, occasional collaboration with some of the study’s authors.”
Source: United States Senator for Virginia Tim Kaine
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Todd Young (R-IN), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Roger Marshall (R-KS) introduced bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, a comprehensive law Kaine, Young, Reed and Marshall successfully passed in 2022 to help prevent suicide, burnout, and mental and behavioral health conditions among health care professionals. The law has already provided $100 million in funding for mental health care for providers across the country, including $5.6 million in federal funding for Virginia providers at UVA Health, Virginia Commonwealth University, and George Mason University. But provisions of the law that made this funding possible expired last year. The Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Reauthorization Act would reauthorize these grant programs for five years.
“Dr. Lorna Breen was a physician from Charlottesville who tragically died by suicide after working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Kaine. “In 2022, I was honored to work with her family and Senators Young, Reed and Marshall to pass legislation in her honor to help ensure health care workers have access to the mental health support they need. I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join us in standing with our health care heroes by reauthorizing that law, so it can continue to support our healers.”
“Our frontline workers put their own health on the line every day to serve our communities in Indiana and across the country,” said Young. “Congress must act to reauthorize this important program to provide our health care workforce with needed support to prevent suicide and promote mental and behavioral health.”
“Doctors, nurses, and health aids take care of patients who need them. The federal government must do its part to ensure the mental and physical health needs of our health care workforce are taken care of too,” said Reed.
“Our health care providers dedicate their lives to taking care of patients, sometimes, this comes at their own expense,” said Marshall. “We must ensure we’re giving them the support they need when it comes to their mental health. I’m proud to join Senators Kaine and Young in leading the reauthorization of this very important program which helps provide access to mental and behavioral health resources to our health care professionals.”
“Health workers are at the heart of every life saved and ever patient cared for, yet the U.S. health care system is straining our workforce and perpetuating the alarming levels of burnout and poor mental health they are experiencing,” said Corey Feist, JD, MBA, co-founder and CEO of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation, which leads the ALL IN: Wellbeing First for Healthcare coalition. “We are immensely grateful to Senators Kaine, Young, Reed, and Marshall for their steadfast commitment to reauthorize and fund the landmark Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act and build upon it to address the primary driver of health workers’ burnout—administrative burden.”
Specifically, Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Reauthorization Act would:
Reauthorize a grant program for health care organizations and professional associations for employee education on strategies to reduce burnout, peer-support programming, and mental and behavioral health treatment for five years. Communities with a shortage of health care workers, rural communities, and those experiencing burnout due to administrative burdens, such as lengthy paperwork, will be prioritized.
Reauthorize a grant program for health profession schools or other institutions to train health care workers and students in strategies to prevent suicide, burnout, mental health conditions, and substance use disorders for five years.
Reauthorize a national evidence-based education and awareness campaign. Currently, the campaign provides hospital and health system leaders with evidence-informed solutions to reduce health care worker burnout. Reauthorization will provide resources for the campaign to continue and expand beyond its current scope.
In addition to Kaine, Young, Reed and Marshall, the legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Mark R. Warner (D-VA).
Full text of the bill is available here.
Australians love their war heroes but a new national survey of 800 managers shows that sentiment doesn’t extend to part-time soldiers on their payroll, many of whom experience indifference, hostility and discrimination in the workplace.
Almost one in five managers indicated their organisation would likely give ‘low or very low support’ to an Army reservist taking leave for training and combat duties.
Interviews with 60 Army reservists based at three different locations in Sydney, Brisbane and Townsville also revealed that middle managers in both the private sector and government consistently sought to deny Defence leave requests, largely irrespective of the organisation’s official stance.
This contrasted with a generally positive view of Army reservists as employees, with most employers believing they were hard workers (80%) and creative problem solvers (70%).
The study revealed a large mismatch between employers’ public declarations of support for Army reservists and the actual tensions that occurred in workplaces.
A novel feature of the survey is that managers were asked to consider a hypothetical reservist called John and indicate how they would respond in a range of common workplace situations if John was on their payroll. The 60 reservists interviewed provided feedback from their actual experiences in the workplace.
Support for the part-time soldiers differed between industries, with managers in public administration, mining and healthcare sectors reporting a ‘significantly higher willingness’ to support reservists’ service. Part of this is attributed to large numbers of reservists and veterans already working in these sectors.
“One factor contributing to tensions in the less supportive workplaces was an incorrect perception among many managers that military skills were not useful in the civilian workplace,” Assoc Prof West says.
Almost 40% of managers said military training and experience would have ‘low or very low relevance’ in their organisation.
One reservist interviewed in the focus groups provided this feedback:
“Management loves to put the word forward, super supportive, love the Reserves, Defence Force, yeah let’s go, but the second it comes to jumping on a course, they question everything. They question the importance of the Defence Force and that course. They question whether I really need to be going to that course.”
“Interestingly, managers’ own personal attributes are generally not the main drivers of differences in their perceptions of reservists,” Assoc Prof Healy says. “We didn’t find different attitudes because of managers’ age, or sex, or even their own education levels.”
The focus groups revealed that the support that reservists receive in the workforce is not only related to attitudes towards the military, but specifically to the role of reservists.
“There is a lack of understanding among employers. They think it’s either a holiday or a hobby or just something fun to go on your days off, or a cash grab,” one reservist said. “When I try to explain to them that if something big happens in the Pacific tomorrow, I might have to go frontline, they don’t accept that.”
Despite the lack of support from managers, most reservists said they were motivated by a volunteer ethos and serving their country.
“It’s not the money or the lifestyle but that fact that I am helping Australia’s national interests and contributing to something larger than myself,” according to one interviewee.
Brad West is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of South Australia who researches the interconnections between war, the military and civil society.
Josh Healy is an Associate Professor in Managing People and Organisations at the University of Sydney Business School, with a research focus on developments shaping the future of work.
Administration officials and Trump allies have described all this action as a “shock and awe” campaign intended to “flood the zone.” Translation: It’s both an effort to demonstrate autocratic power and an effort to overwhelm and exhaust people who might resist the changes.
The Conversation U.S. has published several articles – many from Donald Trump’s first term as president – that spell out how autocrats, and those who want to be autocrats, behave and why. Here are some key points to know.
1. Seize executive power
The move toward autocracy starts with wielding unyielding power over not only people but democratic institutions, explained Shelley Inglis, a scholar of international law at the University of Dayton. In a checklist of 10 items for wannabe authoritarians, the first task, she wrote, is being strong:
“The mainstay of today’s authoritarianism is strengthening your power while simultaneously weakening government institutions, such as parliaments and judiciaries, that provide checks and balances. The key is to use legal means that ultimately give democratic legitimacy to the power grab.”
When a leader’s supporters are more loyal to the person than their political party, that creates what is called a “personalist party,” as scholars of political science Erica Frantz at Michigan State University, Joe Wright at Penn State and Andrea Kendall-Taylor at Yale University described. That creates a danger to democracy, they wrote:
“(W)hat matters for democracy is not so much the ambitions of power-hungry leaders, but rather whether those in their support group will tame them. … (W)hen personalist ruling parties hold legislative majorities and the presidency … there is little that stands in the way of a grab for power.”
Many Republican Party members back Trump, in part because other party leaders signal their own support. AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
3. Sideline the public
In a democracy, the public has power. But if the people choose not to exercise it, that leaves room for an authoritarian leader to take more control, warned Mark Satta, a professor of philosophy and law at Wayne State University in an article comparing George Orwell’s book “Nineteen eighty-four” to modern events:
“Trump routinely speaks like an autocrat. Yet many Americans excuse such talk, failing to treat it as the evidence of a threat to democracy that it is. This seems to me to be driven in part by the tendency Orwell identified to think that truly bad things won’t happen – at least not in one’s own country.”
Donald Trump hugs an American flag as he arrives at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 24, 2024, in Baltimore. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
4. Depend on complacency
Another scholar delivered a warning of a possible future. Vickie Sullivan, a political science scholar at Tufts University, studies Renaissance writer Niccolò Machiavelli, who lived from 1469 to 1527.
He is perhaps most widely known for encouraging “sole rulers – his phrase for authoritarians or dictators – … to use force and fraud to gain and maintain power,” she wrote. But Machiavelli had advice for the public, too, Sullivan explained:
“He instructs republican citizens and leaders … to recognize how vulnerable the governments they cherish are and to be vigilant against the threats of tyranny. … If republican citizens and leaders fail to be vigilant, they will eventually be confronted with a leader who has accumulated an extremely powerful and threatening following. At that point, Machiavelli says, it will be too late to save the republic.”
Source: Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington
Researchers exploring the deep waters off the Fiordland coast have caught on camera marine communities that have never been filmed before. These communities include a protected species of red coral that has not previously been seen in such large numbers.
“We were filming at depths of 80 to 130 metres and found amazing marine communities. The most incredible find—unlike anything we have seen elsewhere—was about 4 kilometres north of the entrance to Doubtful Sound/Patea. On the ocean floor, we saw forests of bright red coral,” said Professor James Bell, a marine biologist at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
The coral species, Errina novaezelandiae, is commonly known as red coral, although it is not a true coral but a related animal called a hydrocoral.
The discovery of the red coral forests was made while the researchers were working on a project to explore and map marine life in Fiordland’s deep waters. They were working on board the Department of Conservation (DOC) vesselSouthern Winds.
“We’ve been exploring these deep reefs in Fiordland for many years, but we’re rarely able to work on the open coast outside the fiords because of the weather. On our most recent trip in January, the weather was finally on our side,” said Professor Bell.
Using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), the research team collected video footage of reefs at depths of greater than 100 metres in areas that have not previously been filmed.
“We’ve deployed the ROV more than 100 times in deep waters around New Zealand, but we have not seen communities like those we found off the open coast outside Doubtful Sound/Patea. In other parts of the country, we usually find reefs at these depths are dominated by sponges. In this area off the Fiordland coast, red corals dominated. The water was also incredibly clear down at 100 m and we could see the reef from a distance of about 30 to 40 m,” he said.
Red corals are known to live in some places inside the fiords and are considered to be associated with the sheltered fiord conditions. The population discovered around the open coast was distinguished by its massive size, with tens of thousands of corals seen.
Video footage of the reefs shows numerous red corals, along with a range of other animals including larger black corals. Both red and black corals are protected species under the Wildlife Act.
These coral forests play a key role in maintaining habitat diversity, supporting many fish and crayfish species, said Professor Bell.
“Filming the animals that live on these deep-water reefs provides us with more information about the extraordinary biodiversity in our seas. This information is crucial to decisions about the use and protection of our marine environment. While much of Fiordland’s inland waters are protected, this is not the case for the open coast. In fact, most deep-water reefs around Aotearoa are not protected in marine reserves,” he said.
The research was supported by the George Mason Charitable Trust and DOC’s conservation services programme. DOC also provided logistical support.
Richard Kinsey, a DOC senior ranger who was on the trip, said: “It is exciting when you get to put the ROV into places you can rarely access as it gives insights into a completely different part of the fiord ecosystem. You just never know what you are going to find. For DOC, increasing our understanding of where these protected species are helps us to understand the potential threats to them.”
DOC senior science advisor Lyndsey Holland added: “Our understanding of protected coral distribution in Fiordland is dominated by black corals. Other protected corals in the area haven’t been studied as extensively, so this finding is a breakthrough. We do know that New Zealand boasts a diverse array of cold-water corals offshore, so this discovery validates the need to survey and monitor Fiordland corals so we can best protect them.”
Video footage of the deep-water reefs off Fiordland is here:
Frederick W. Pitcher, the new Permanent Representative of Nauru to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Pitcher had been serving as the Chief Executive Officer for the Nauru Maritime and Port Authority and the Nauru Shipping Line since 2023.
He was a member of Parliament from 2004 to 2013, served as Nauru’s Minister for Commerce, Industry and Environment from 2004 to 2010, and was elected briefly as President in 2011. Prior, Mr. Pitcher held the position of Nauru’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 2000 to 2004.
Mr. Pitcher began his career in Nauru’s Public Service in 1993, where he held several positions, including as the Director of the Bureau of Statistics (1993-1995); Private Secretary to the President (1995-1996); and Secretary for Finance (1996–1997).
Since 2013, he had been working mainly in the private sector.
Mr. Pitcher obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Management and Business Administration from the Edinburgh School of Management in Scotland (1997-2000); a Graduate Certificate and United Nations Fellowship in Statistical Analysis from the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific, in Tokyo, (1992-1993); and a Bachelor of Arts in Pacific Studies from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia (1988-1991), among other professional certificates. He was born on Nauru in February 1967 and is married with three adult children.
________
CR.12.048E
Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the information media; not an official record.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurates the 38th National Games in Dehradun It is a celebration of India’s incredible sporting talent and showcases the spirit of athletes from across the country: PM
We consider sports as a key driver for India’s holistic development: PM
We are creating more and more opportunities for our athletes so they can enhance their potential to the fullest: PM
India is making a strong push to host the 2036 Olympics: PM
The National Games is more than just a sporting event, It is a great platform to showcase the spirit of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat,’ It is a celebration of India’s rich diversity and unity: PM
Posted On: 28 JAN 2025 9:02PM by PIB Delhi
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the 38th National Games in Dehradun, Uttarakhand today. Addressing the gathering, he remarked that Uttarakhand is resplendent today with the energy of the youth. He added that the 38th National Games were commencing today with the blessings of Baba Kedarnath, Badrinath and Maa Ganga. Highlighting that it was the 25th year of the formation of Uttarakhand, Shri Modi remarked that the youth from across the nation would be displaying their potential in this young state. He added that the event displayed a beautiful picture of ‘Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat’. He further remarked that many local games were included in this edition of the National Games and the theme was ‘Green Games’, as there was usage of environment-friendly items. Elaborating further on the theme, the Prime Minister highlighted that even the trophies and medals were made of e-Waste and a tree would be planted in the name of every medal winner, which was a great initiative. He extended his best wishes to all the athletes for a great performance. He also congratulated the Government and people of Uttarakhand for organizing such a grand event.
The Prime Minister remarked that just as gold becomes pure through fire, athletes are given more opportunities to refine their abilities. He added that now many tournaments were organized over the year and several new tournaments were included in the Khelo India Series. Shri Modi emphasised that the Khelo India Youth games has provided opportunities for many young players to advance while the University Games offer many opportunities to the University students. He remarked that the Khelo India Para Games helped the Para athletes in improving their performance and creating new achievements. The Prime Minister recalled that recently the 5th edition of the Khelo India Winter Games was underway in Ladakh and mentioned that last year, the Beach Games were organized.
Shri Modi remarked that the efforts to promote sports are not solely driven by the Government, but many Members of Parliament were organizing sports competitions in their constituencies to bring forward new talent. The Prime Minister, who is also the MP of Kashi, mentioned that in his parliamentary constituency alone, around 2.5 lakh youth get the opportunity to participate in sports competitions every year. He emphasized that a beautiful bouquet of sports has been created in the country, with flowers blooming in every season and tournaments being held continuously.
“Sports is considered a key medium for India’s holistic development”, said the Prime Minister and emphasized that when a country excels in sports, its reputation and profile also rise. Therefore, he added that sports was being linked to India’s development and the confidence of its youth. The Prime Minister highlighted that India was progressing towards becoming the world’s third-largest economic power, and the sports economy is a significant part of this effort. He noted that behind every athlete, there is an entire ecosystem, including coaches, trainers, nutrition and fitness experts, doctors, and equipment. Shri Modi mentioned that India was becoming a quality manufacturer of sports equipment used by athletes worldwide. He pointed out that Meerut had over 35,000 small and large factories producing sports equipment, employing more than 3 lakh people. He emphasized that such ecosystems were being developed across the country.
Remarking that he recently had the opportunity to meet the Olympics team of India at his residence in Delhi, the Prime Minister said that during the conversation, one of the athletes redefined “PM” as “Param Mitra” (best friend) instead of “Prime Minister.” He expressed that this trust gives him energy. He emphasized his complete confidence in the talent and potential of the athletes. The Prime Minister highlighted the continuous focus on supporting their talent over the past 10 years and the sports budget had more than tripled in the last decade. He added that under the TOPS scheme, hundreds of crores of rupees were being invested in dozens of athletes. He underscored that the Khelo India program was building modern sports infrastructure across the country. Shri Modi highlighted that sports was mainstreamed in schools, and the country’s first sports university was being established in Manipur.
Pointing out that the results of the Government’s efforts were visible on the ground and in the medal tally, the Prime Minister highlighted that Indian athletes are making their mark in every international event, showcasing their talent. He praised the excellent performance of Indian athletes in the Olympics and Paralympics, noting that many athletes from Uttarakhand had also won medals. He expressed his happiness that many medal winners were present at the venue to encourage the participants.
Shri Modi remarked that the glorious days of hockey were returning. He highlighted that India’s kho-kho team recently won the World Cup, and Gukesh D. stunned the world by winning the World Chess Championship. Additionally, Koneru Humpy became the Women’s World Rapid Chess Champion. The Prime Minister emphasized that these successes demonstrate how sports in India are no longer just extracurricular activities but the youth were now considering sports as a major career choice.
“Just as athletes always aim for big goals, India is also moving forward with great resolutions”, exclaimed the Prime Minister. He highlighted that India was making significant efforts to host the 2036 Olympics, which will elevate Indian sports to new heights. Emphasizing that the Olympics was not just a sports event; but drives multiple sectors in the host country, Shri Modi said the sports infrastructure built for the Olympics creates jobs and provides better facilities for future athletes. He added that the city hosting the Olympics sees new connectivity infrastructure, boosting the construction and transport sectors and the biggest benefit was to the country’s tourism, with new hotels being built and people from around the world coming to participate and watch the games. The Prime Minister noted that the National Games being held in Devbhoomi Uttarakhand will also benefit the local economy. He added that spectators from other parts of the country will visit different parts of Uttarakhand, showing that sports events benefit not only athletes but also various other sectors of the economy.
Emphasizing that the 21st century was being hailed as India’s century, Shri Modi, after visiting Baba Kedarnath, spontaneously felt that this was the decade of Uttarakhand. He expressed his happiness over Uttarakhand’s rapid progress. The Prime Minister highlighted that Uttarakhand had become the first state in the country to implement the Uniform Civil Code, which will form the foundation for a dignified life for daughters, mothers, and sisters. It will strengthen the spirit of democracy and the essence of the Constitution. Shri Modi connected this to the sports event, noting that sportsmanship removes all feelings of discrimination. He added that every victory and medal is achieved through collective effort, and sports inspire teamwork. He stated that the same spirit applies to the Uniform Civil Code, where there is no discrimination, and everyone is equal. He congratulated the State Government of Uttarakhand for taking this historic step.
Noting that for the first time, Uttarakhand was hosting a national event on such a large scale, the Prime Minister lauded that this was a significant achievement in itself, creating more employment opportunities and providing local youth with jobs. He urged that Uttarakhand must explore new avenues for development, as its economy cannot solely rely on the Char Dham Yatra. He added that the Government was continuously enhancing facilities to increase the attraction of these pilgrimages, with the number of pilgrims setting new records each season. However, he noted that this is not enough. Shri Modi emphasized the need to promote winter spiritual journeys in Uttarakhand. He expressed his happiness that new steps were taken in this direction and shared his desire to be part of these winter journeys. He encouraged the youth from across the country to visit Uttarakhand during winters, as the number of pilgrims is lower, and there are many opportunities for adventure activities. He urged all athletes to explore these opportunities after the National Games and enjoy the hospitality of Devbhoomi for a longer duration.
The Prime Minister remarked that the athletes represent their respective states and will compete fiercely in the coming days, breaking national records and setting new ones. He urged them to give their best effort. Emphasising that the National Games was not just a sports competition but also a platform for “Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat,” celebrating India’s diversity, Shri Modi encouraged the athletes to ensure that their medals reflect the unity and excellence of India. He urged them to learn about the languages, cuisines, and music of different states. Stressing on the importance of cleanliness, the PM highlighted that Uttarakhand was progressing towards becoming plastic-free, and this goal cannot be achieved without the athletes’ cooperation. He urged everyone to contribute to the success of this campaign.
Emphasising the importance of fitness and the growing problem of obesity in the country, the Prime Minister noted that obesity was affecting all age groups, including the youth, and increasing the risk of diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Shri Modi expressed satisfaction that the country was becoming more aware of fitness and a healthy lifestyle through the Fit India Movement. He mentioned that the National Games teach the importance of physical activity, discipline, and a balanced life. The Prime Minister urged the citizens to focus on two things: exercise and diet. He encouraged everyone to take some time each day for exercise, whether it’s walking or working out. He also stressed the importance of a balanced and nutritious diet, suggesting a reduction in unhealthy fats and oils. He advised reducing the use of cooking oil by at least 10% each month, as small steps can lead to significant health improvements. He highlighted that a healthy body leads to a healthy mind and a healthy nation. Shri Modi called on state governments, schools, offices, and community leaders to spread awareness about fitness and nutrition. He urged everyone to share their practical experiences and knowledge about proper nutrition. He concluded by calling for a collective effort to build a “Fit India” and announced the commencement of the 38th National Games, extending his best wishes to all participants.
The Governor of Uttarakhand, Lt.Gen. (Retd.) Gurmit Singh, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami, Union Ministers of State Shri Ajay Tamta, Smt Raksha Khadse were present among other dignitaries at the event.
Background
The 38th National Games is being hosted in Dehradun, Uttarakhand during its Silver Jubilee year and will be held in 11 cities across 8 districts of Uttarakhand from 28th January to 14th February.
36 states and one union territory will participate in the National Games. Over 17 days, competitions for 35 sports disciplines will be held. Among these, medals will be awarded for 33 sports, while two will be exhibition sports. Yoga and Mallakhamb have been included in the National Games for the first time. More than 10,000 athletes from across the country will participate in the event.
With a focus on sustainability, the theme for the National Games this year is “Green Games.” A special park, called the Sports Forest, will be developed near the venue, where more than 10,000 saplings will be planted by athletes and guests. The medals and certificates for the athletes will be made from environmentally friendly and biodegradable materials.
Inaugurating the 38th National Games in Uttarakhand. It is a celebration of India’s incredible sporting talent and showcases the spirit of athletes from across the country. https://t.co/RT5QkE6Yu6
The National Games is more than just a sporting event. It is a great platform to showcase the spirit of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat.’ It is a celebration of India’s rich diversity and unity. pic.twitter.com/nRlLXcXzYC
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and the Jammu & Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at fostering collaboration, mentorship, and support for startups in the region.
The signing took place during “Jammu Kashmir Konnect,” a special startup-focused program organized at JKEDI’s Baribrahamna campus, where startups, incubators, and key-way stakeholders gathered to discuss innovation and growth opportunities. DPIIT and JKEDI formally signed the MoU marking a significant step toward strengthening startup support systems in J&K.
The MoU between DPIIT and JKEDI paves the way for greater branding, outreach, and accessibility to Startup India’s ecosystem, fostering mentorship, knowledge exchange, and infrastructure support. It also focuses on market linkages, funding networks, and international expansion opportunities, aligning with India’s vision of becoming a developed nation by 2047.
During the program, Director DPIIT and Director JKEDI held one-on-one interactions with all incubators, discussing their challenges, needs, and future plans. The session provided a unique platform for incubators to share insights, suggest improvements, and seek policy-level support for enhancing the startup ecosystem.
During the event, Shri Rajinder Kumar Sharma, JKAS, Director JKEDI highlighted the impact of the JK Startup Policy, launched in March 2024, which has led to over 250 new startup registrations on the DPIIT portal taken the total to 988 in a short span. He also emphasized the significant outreach efforts undertaken by JKEDI, stating that during the current financial year, the institute has successfully conducted 601 Entrepreneurship Awareness Programs (EAPs) across Universities, Colleges, Higher Secondary Schools, and IITs in 20 districts of J&K—without incurring any expenses.
The “Jammu Kashmir Konnect” program, coupled with the signing of the MoU, marks a major milestone in J&K’s startup ecosystem, ensuring that aspiring entrepreneurs receive the mentorship, funding opportunities, and ecosystem support needed to thrive.
The Head of the Incubators from IIT- Jammu, IIM-Jammu, Jammu University, SKUAST-Jammu, Cluster University and CIIIT Jammu along with the FICCI Flo attended the event physically. Incubators from NIT- Srinagar, IUST University, SKUAST – Kashmir and CIIIT Baramulla joined virtually.
In a major stride forward for nanoscience, researchers have uncovered a groundbreaking phenomenon — electron confinement-induced plasmonic breakdown in metals.
This study opens new avenues for understanding and manipulating the fundamental behaviour of electrons in nanoscale systems which can help design more efficient nanoelectronic devices and optoelectronic materials with enhanced precision, sensors that operate at atomic and molecular levels as well as efficient nano catalysts.
Metals have long been celebrated for their plasmonic properties—collective oscillations of free electrons that enable unique optical responses. From catalysis to advanced photonic devices, plasmonic behaviour underpins a wide range of modern technologies. However, Prof. Saha’s research sheds light on an unexpected and transformative aspect of this field: how the confinement of electrons at the nanoscale disrupts and ultimately breaks down plasmonic behaviour.
A new study by Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bengaluru, under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), GoI, probe how the quantum confinement of electrons, driven by size reduction to the nanoscale, changes the electronic structure of metals. This shift, as shown by the team steered by Prof Bivas Saha leads to a suppression of the collective oscillations essential to plasmonic properties, fundamentally altering the material’s optical and electronic behaviour.
At the nanoscale, materials behave in ways that often defy classical intuition. JNCASR’s work published in the prestigious Science Advances (2024, Vol. 10, Issue 47), bridges the gap between traditional plasmonics and the quantum effects that emerge at this scale.
Prof. Saha’s team employed advanced spectroscopy techniques to observe plasmonic phenomena in metallic systems with varying degrees of confinement. Alongside, computational simulations provided a deep theoretical framework to explain the observed breakdown.
They used cutting-edge tools such as electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and first-principles quantum mechanical calculations which helped them predict electron behaviour with unprecedented accuracy.
Apart from JNCASR, Prof. Alexandra Boltasseva and Prof. Vladimir Shalaev from Purdue University and Prof. Igor Bondarev from North Carolina State University in USA, and Dr. Magnus Garbrecht and Dr. Asha Pillai from the University of Sydney participated in this study.
This research challenges long-held assumptions in plasmonics, redefining the boundaries of what is possible with metal-based materials. The electron confinement-induced plasmonic breakdown represents not just a scientific revelation but also a call to rethink the design principles of nanoscale materials.
Speaking about the breakthrough, Prof. Saha remarked, “Our findings highlight the transformative role of quantum confinement in redefining material properties. This is not just about understanding plasmonic breakdown—it’s about pushing the limits of how we can harness nanoscale phenomena for technological innovation.”
With growing interest in quantum materials and nanotechnology, Prof. Saha’s work positions JNCASR as a leader in exploring the uncharted territory where classical and quantum physics converge.
“The electron confinement-induced plasmonic breakdown in metals represents a landmark achievement in materials science and nanotechnology. By unravelling the intricate interplay between quantum confinement and plasmonic behaviour, this research sets the stage for revolutionary advancements across industries.”- commented Prasanna Das, lead author of the paper.
The implications of the study are vast, spanning — electronics and photonics, sensing technologies and catalysts and energy conversion.
As a part of Government of India’s Action Plan for Viksit Bharat@2047, the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals conducted 4th training programme on “Chemical and Petrochemical Industrial Safety” at Chennai during 23-24th January 2025 at Institute of Petrochemicals Technology (IPT) – Chennai, a centre of Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology (CIPET), with focus on Major Accident Hazard (MAH) units in Chemical and Petrochemical Sector.
This program is the part of a series of training programmes that are being organised by the Department on Industrial Chemical Safety covering 2393 Major Accident Hazard units identified across the country. A total of 48 training programmes are planned to cover all these MAH Units over the period of next five years. This training programme witnessed participation of 113 representatives across 65 MAH industries.
Technical Experts from CLRI, Anna University, Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute, Thirumalai Chemicals and various consulting firms delivered lectures on various aspects related to safety, Environment & Hazardous waste Management.
Thematic areas that were covered under the training programme included Safety & Health at work, Process safety Management, Advance Risk Assessment techniques, Toxicology, Hazard Identification techniques, Emergency preparedness, Role of ICT and other technologies in Chemical Safety, Global Harmonized System, Loss statistics and loss Prevention, Environmental Prevention and Spill prevention, Hazardous Waste Management, Labelling of chemicals and Safety data Sheet (SDS) & Fire and Explosion Safety.
To give the industrial employees a hands on experience, a mock drill was also conducted in coordination with Kothari Petrochemicals at CIPET: IPT Chennai.
Question for written answer E-000211/2025 to the Commission Rule 144 Pina Picierno (S&D)
The Italian NRRP funds earmarked for the creation of university housing – amounting to EUR 1.2 billion – are at risk of being withdrawn due to a lack of adequate applications and the fact that it would be impossible to complete the works by June 2026.
Furthermore, the decision of the Minister for Universities and Research to eliminate single rooms in university halls of residence financed as mentioned above by the NRRP, not only raises concerns about the possible withdrawal of funds, but could also affect the psychological well-being of students.
Considering that the change in the characteristics of the projects funded (such as the elimination of single rooms) could be interpreted as a deviation from the commitments made by Italy and that the EU has placed mental health as a priority in its policies, and has called on the Member States to take measures to promote it (such as providing a suitable proportion of single and shared rooms), can the Commission answer the following questions:
1.Does the Commission consider the proposal approved by the Italian Government to completely eliminate single rooms to be appropriate, especially in light of the principles of inclusion and psychological well-being of students?
2.Does the approved change comply with the established guidelines for the use of funds?
3.What measures are foreseen to monitor these changes to projects that are already funded?
From January 31, Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) will reintroduce ticketed entry, charging adults $20 for general admission and $35 for combined special exhibitions and museum entry. Entry will remain free for Australian students and people under 18.
This decision, which reverses 24 years of free general entry to the museum, reflects broader challenges faced by museums globally.
Driven by philanthropy
The MCA was opened in 1991, established through the bequest of Australian expatriate artist John Power. As an independent, not-for-profit organisation, its administrative and financial structure is different from major cultural institutions in Sydney.
Unlike the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Australian Museum, which are statutory bodies of the NSW government, the MCA receives a far smaller proportion of state funding.
For 2023-2024, the NSW government delivered A$46.2 million in recurrent funding to the Art Gallery of NSW and $47.4 million to the Australian Museum. The MCA received $4.2 million, which represented just 16% of its total revenue.
This funding disparity has always required the MCA to secure the bulk of its budget through other revenue streams. Corporate and philanthropic partnerships have been vital.
In 2000, financial support from Telstra allowed the museum to offer free admission. In 2012, philanthropists including Simon and Catriona Mordant contributed greatly to fund the museum’s expansion.
The MCA has also been proactive in leveraging its venue to maximise income. In 2023, 41% of revenue was earned through commercial services including venue hire, retail and commercial leases.
Why there’s no more free entry
Despite reducing its opening hours to six days a week post-COVID and scaling back audience engagement, the MCA’s financial pressures continued. According to director Suzanne Cotter, the museum “didn’t have any choice” but to implement an admission fee.
While ticketed admission creates a financial barrier, it also provides visitors a way to invest directly in the museum’s future and sustainability.
The MCA has consistently demonstrated its value, generating impressive visitor numbers. In 2019, attendance surpassed one million visitors, setting the museum ahead of many international peers.
But the effects of the COVID pandemic have lingered. In 2022-23, the museum attracted 859,386 visitors – a 15% decline compared to 2019.
In comparison, the Art Gallery of NSW welcomed almost two million visitors to its expanded campus in 2023, representing a 51% increase from pre-COVID figures.
The MCA isn’t struggling alone
Internationally, there are clear signs of an industry under immense pressure.
Major US institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Guggenheim and Whitney have all increased general adult admission fees to US$30.
The Met’s shift away from a pay-what-you-can model to fixed admission for most visitors in 2018 was driven by speculation of a US$40 million deficit. However, New York state residents and students, as well as New Jersey and Connecticut students, can still pay what they wish – even as little as one cent.
Similarly, at the Whitney, a US$2 million donation last year by Trustee and artist Julie Mehretu has helped enable free entry for under-25s.
These examples show how paying visitors can support a museum’s sustainability while preserving subsidised access for priority groups.
Across Europe, major museums including the Louvre and Uffizi are also increasingprices, though many retain periodic free days to ensure accessibility.
Meanwhile, commentators such as cultural historian Ben Lewis argue major institutions such as the British Museum should start charging general admission fees to supplement stagnant government funding and decrease dependence on potentially unethical corporate donors.
This would allow the museums to pay competitive wages and fund essential work, Lewis argues.
Lewis’s concerns about corporate donations accord with debates taking place internationally and in Australia around the role of big oil, mining and pharmaceutical companies that use the arts to “greenwash” their public brand.
Can accessiblity be prioritised in Australia?
The MCA’s situation, which reflects international trends, raises questions about arts funding and access.
Both the NSW and federal governments’ arts policies recognise the value of providing access to the arts. As the NSW government’s Creative Communities policy notes, “the right to participate in arts, cultural and creative activities is a fundamental human right.”
The MCA excelled in this regard under its free admission policy, attracting a diverse audience that other museums often struggled to reach. In 2023, about half of the museums on-site visitors were under 35, and 45% were from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
The NSW government’s policy – along with its national counterpart Revive – also emphasises the importance of telling Australian stories. This is another area the MCA has excelled in.
The question then is: if the state and federal governments value equitable access to the arts and appreciates the platforming of Australian stories, will they commit to a more sustainable funding arrangement for organisations like the MCA?
Without such a commitment, the gap between those who can afford to attend museums and those who can’t will continue to widen – compromising the democratic ideal of an accessible cultural sector.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
As the 2019-2020 megafires took hold across eastern Australia, many of us reeled at the sight of animals trying and often failing to flee. Our screens filled up with images of koalas with burned paws and possums in firefighter helmets.
The death toll was staggering, estimated at up to three billion wild animals killed or displaced. Millions more were severely injured. Tens of thousands of domesticated animals were killed or had to be euthanised.
In fighting these fires, authorities focused almost entirely on protecting human lives and property, other than targeted rescue efforts for the last remaining wild stand of Wollemi pine. The role of rescuing and caring for domesticated and wild animals fell almost entirely to community groups and individual carers, who stepped up to fill the gap at significant cost to themselves – financially, emotionally and sometimes even at a risk to their safety.
Our new research draws on more than 60 interviews with wildlife carers and groups in the Shoalhaven region south of Wollongong in New South Wales. These people spontaneously organised themselves to care for thousands of domesticated, farm and wild animals, from evacuating them from fire zones to giving them shelter, food, water and healthcare.
The lengths our interviewees went to were extraordinary. But these rescue efforts were largely invisible to authorities – and, as our interviewees told us, sometimes even condemned as irresponsible.
What did our interviews tell us?
The standard view in Australia is that only humans matter in the face of bushfires. But the way affected communities reached out to save as many animals as they could shows many people think we ought to be acting differently.
One interviewee told about screaming for “her babies” as Rural Fire Service firefighters evacuated her. In response, the firies searched the house for human babies to no avail. When they found out she meant her wombat joeys, they laughed in relief. But to our interviewee, the joeys were like her babies. The joeys were safe inside her house.
People cared for a wide range of species, from horses, chickens, bees and cows to native birds, possums, wombats and wallabies. Despite this, we found common themes.
Many people felt the system had let them down when it came to protecting animals. This is why many of them felt they had to take matters into their own hands to ensure that animals survived.
As one interviewee told us:
one thing that you have to realise, is people’s animals are their children, and they are their life. If you let someone think that their animal isn’t safe, they will put themselves in danger to try and get to that animal or save that animal […] That’s one thing the firies — you know, if they’re not an animal compassionate person, they don’t get that.
While some guidance on disaster preparation talks about how to protect pets such as cats and dogs, wildlife carers, farmers and horse owners often found themselves facing incoming fires with little or no information or support.
People also told us about a lack of information on how to care for different types of animals during disasters. Information was often nonexistent or hard to locate, making decision-making during the crisis very difficult.
As one farmer told us:
there’s not any information on realistically what you do with your animals in a case of […] a massive disaster. I mean, it’s like someone said about cutting the fences. But now you’ve got stocking cattle running through the bush and they don’t know where the fire’s going to turn or what’s going to happen.
The needs of animals differ significantly. It’s harder to find shelter for a horse than a smaller animal, for instance. Wildlife being cared for already need assistance, due to being orphaned, injured or ill. It’s harder to evacuate injured animals or joeys who need regular feeding than it is to evacuate healthy adult animals.
Our interviewees reported price spikes for transport, food, temporary fencing and medicines during the 2019-2020 emergency season. Caring for animals always comes with costs, but the cost burden intensified over the Black Summer and afterwards.
Caring for animals came with another cost too, to mental health. Many of our interviewees told us they still felt traumatised, even though our interviews were two or three years after the fires.
As one interviewee told us:
the people at Lake Conjola […] said it was like an apocalypse. They said there was dead birds dropping out of the sky. Kangaroos would come hopping out of the bush on fire […] I know it really heavily affected most people on the beach, the horrific things that they saw.
Despite facing a lack of formal support and with limited information, people organised themselves very quickly into networks to share access to safe land, transport, food, labour and information. Dedicated people set up social media groups to allocate tasks, call for help and so on. This unsung animal rescue effort was almost entirely driven by volunteers.
What should we do before the next megafires?
Australia will inevitably be hit by more megafires, as climate change brings more hot, dry fire weather and humidity falls over land.
What would it mean to include animals in our planning? To start with, more and better information for wildlife carers, farmers, pet owners and the wider community. It would mean directing more funds to animal care, both during and after disasters, and including animal care in local, state and federal disaster planning. It would mean improving communication networks so people know where to go.
To this end, we developed a new guide for communities wanting to be better prepared to help animals in the next disaster. We prototyped an app designed to help communities organise themselves in order to help animals during disasters.
The scale of the Black Summer fires found governments and communities largely
unprepared. But we are now in a position to learn from what happened.
As authorities prepare for the next fires, they should broaden how they think about disaster preparation. Our research suggests disaster planning needs to take place at a community level, rather than a focus on individual households. And vitally, authorities need to think of communities as made up of both humans and animals, rather than just humans.
This research project was funded by the Australian government via a Bushfire Recovery Grant from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. It was conducted in partnership with the Shoalhaven City Council. This article was prepared solely by the University of Sydney research team and reflects our research and analysis only.
This research project was funded by the Australian government via a Bushfire Recovery Grant from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. It was conducted in partnership with the Shoalhaven City Council.
With one in four Australian adults experiencing problems with incontinence, some people look to supplements for relief.
With ingredients such as pumpkin seed oil and soybean extract, a range of products promise relief from frequent bathroom trips.
But do they really work? Let’s sift through the claims and see what the science says about their efficacy.
What is incontinence?
Incontinence is the involuntary loss of bladder or bowel control, leading to the unintentional leakage of urine or faeces. It can range from occasional minor leaks to a complete inability to control urination and defecation.
This condition can significantly impact daily activities and quality of life, and affects women more often than it affects men.
Some people don’t experience bladder leakage but can sometimes feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. This is known as overactive bladder syndrome, and occurs when the muscles around the bladder tighten on their own, which greatly reduces its capacity. The result is the person feels the need to go to the bathroom much more frequently.
There are many potential causes of incontinence and overactive bladders, including menopause, pregnancy and child birth, urinary tract infections, pelvic floor disorders, and an enlarged prostate. Conditions such as diabetes, neurological disorders and certain medications (such as diuretics, sleeping pills, antidepressants and blood-pressure drugs) can also contribute.
A number of supplements are available in Australia that include ingredients used in traditional medicine for urinary incontinence and overactive bladders. The three most common ingredients are:
Cucurbita pepo (pumpkin seed extract)
glycine max (soybean extract)
an extract from the bark of the Crateva magna or nurvala (Varuna) tree.
Soybean extracts are rich in isoflavones, especially daidzen and genistein. Like olieic acid, these are thought to act on the muscles around the bladder. Because isoflavones are similar in structure to the female hormone oestrogen, soy extracts may be most beneficial for postmenopausal women who have overactive bladders.
Crateva extract is rich in lupeol- and sterol-based chemicals which have strong anti-inflammatory effects. This has benefits not just for enlarged prostates but possibly also for reducing urinary tract infections.
Do they actually work?
It’s important to note that the government has only approved these types of supplements as “listed medicines”. This means the ingredients have only been assessed for safety. The companies behind the products have not had to provide evidence they actually work.
A 2014 clinical trial examined a combined pumpkin seed and soybean extract called cucurflavone on people with overactive bladders. The 120 participants received either a placebo or a daily 1,000mg dose of the herbal mixture over a period of 12 weeks.
By the end of study, those in the cucurflavone group went to the bathroom around three fewer times per day, compared with people in the control group, who only went to the bathroom on average one fewer time each day.
In a different trial, researchers examined a combination of Crateva bark extract with herbal extracts of horsetail and Japanese evergreen spicebush, called Urox.
For the 150 participants, the Urox formulation helped participants go to the bathroom less frequently when compared with placebo treatment.
After eight weeks of treatment, participants in the placebo group were going to the bathroom to urinate 11 times per day. Those in the Urox group were only going around to 7.5 times per day. And those who took Urox also needed to go to the bathroom one fewer time during the night.
Finally, another study also examined a Creteva, horsetail and Japanese spicebush combination, but this time in children. They were given either a 420mg dose of the supplement or a placebo, and then monitored for how many times they wet the bed.
After two months of taking the supplement, slightly more than 40% of the 24 kids in the supplement group wet the bed less often.
While these results may look promising, there are considerable limitations to the studies which means the data may not be reliable. For example, the trials didn’t include enough participants to have reliable data. To conclusively provide efficacy, final-stage clinical trials require data for between 300 and 3,000 patients.
From the studies, it is also not clear whether some participants were also taking other medicines as well as the supplement. This is important, as medications can interfere with how the supplements work, potentially making them less or more effective.
Otherwise, your GP may give you strategies or exercises to improve your bladder control, prescribe medications or devices, or refer you to a specialist.
If you do decide to take a supplement, discuss this with your doctor and local pharmacist so they can check that any product you choose will not interfere with any other medications you may be taking.
Nial Wheate in the past has received funding from the ACT Cancer Council, Tenovus Scotland, Medical Research Scotland, Scottish Crucible, and the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance. He is a fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, a member of the Australasian Pharmaceutical Science Association and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Nial is the chief scientific officer of Vaihea Skincare LLC, a director of SetDose Pty Ltd (a medical device company) and was previously a Standards Australia panel member for sunscreen agents. Nial regularly consults to industry on issues to do with medicine risk assessments, manufacturing, design, and testing.
It has now been four years since the Myanmar military launched its cataclysmic coup against the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1 2021, starting a civil war that has devastated the country.
Suu Kyi remains locked up, as do countless other activists and regime opponents. There is no easy resolution in sight.
Indeed, the country is at a nadir. The war has sparked an economic crisis that has destroyed Myanmar’s health and education systems. Half the population now lives in poverty, double the rate from before the coup. The deteriorating electricity network causes widespread blackouts.
According to the United Nations, more than 5,000 civilians have been killed and 3.3 million people have been displaced by the fighting. More than 27,000 people have also been arrested, with reports of sexual violence and torture rife.
Nevertheless, opposition forces – including ethnic armies and the People’s Defence Force militias drawn from the civilian population – have been gathering strength, with a string of victories against the junta’s army.
The regime now controls less than half the country. And recent strategic losses are weighing heavily on the military leaders, raising questions about whether the government could suddenly collapse like the Assad regime in Syria late last year.
As the war enters a fifth year, there are two significant things to watch that could determine the country’s future – the battleground gains made by the opposition forces and the state of the failing economy.
Junta under pressure on the battlefield
Following the opposition Three Brotherhood Alliance’s battleground successes in late 2023, China brokered a ceasefire between the junta and alliance in northern Shan State.
When that ceasefire ended last June, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), one of the members of the alliance, captured the key trading town of Lashio, as well as the junta’s nearby Northeast Regional Military Command. It was the first time one of the 14 regional military commands had fallen to an opposition group in more than 50 years of military rule.
China has recently brokered another ceasefire between the MNDAA and the military, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. The terms have not been made public, but unless the insurgents relinquish Lashio and the military command – which is unlikely – it won’t alter the balance of power.
In December, the military lost another command centre in Rakhine State in western Myanmar to the Arakan Army, another member of the Three Brotherhood Alliance. The Arakan Army now controls 14 of that state’s 17 townships.
The Arakan Army, too, said recently it is open to political dialogue to potentially end the fighting. But it, too, is only likely to stop its military offensives for extremely favourable terms.
In a major study undertaken in late 2024, the BBC assessed the junta only had full control of 21% of Myanmar’s territory. Ethnic armies and other opposition forces controlled 42% of the country, while the remaining areas were contested.
In response, the junta has intensified its “scorched earth” tactics in areas outside its control, including indiscriminate and deliberate strikes against civilians. With dwindling reserves of willing fighters, air power is the main combat advantage it holds over the opposition forces.
Myanmar is now experiencing a full-blown economic and currency crisis.
The incremental gains in economic development, education, nutrition and health care of recent decades have been reversed very quickly. Three-quarters of the population is now living a subsistence existence.
Many young people are fleeing abroad, joining resistance groups, or eking out dangerous livelihoods on the margins. To make matters worse, the junta activated a longstanding but dormant conscription law last February to boost its dwindling forces. Those who refuse the draft face five years in prison.
In response to the Arakan Army’s successes, the junta is also isolating much of Rakhine State. This is contributing to widespread poverty and a looming famine, which could affect two million people.
And in an attempt to control the digital space, the junta enacted a sweeping new cybersecurity law earlier this month. People can now be imprisoned for using a virtual private network or sharing information from banned websites, among many other offences.
Could Myanmar fall apart?
The ASEAN regional bloc, chaired by Malaysia this year, has done little to solve the crisis, although it hasn’t accepted the junta’s hollow plans to hold elections this year.
Disagreements among the ASEAN members over strategy have ensured that little progress has been made. Thailand recently broke ranks to invite the junta’s foreign minister to regional talks about border security, even though the junta currently controls few of the country’s borders.
An accelerated economic deterioration could contribute to further unrest and drive even more migrants to neighbouring countries. Already, the millions of Myanmar migrants living in Thailand have precipitated anti-migrant protests and mass arrests.
So, given the combustible state of the country, could the junta’s hold on power suddenly collapse like the Assad regime in Syria last year?
It’s not likely. Unlike Syria, the opposition in Myanmar is not heavily backed by major international players. China’s support for various insurgent actors comes and goes depending on political calculations, while the United States and European Union have provided little material support.
In addition, the military has been effectively running Myanmar for 60 years and is well practised in counterinsurgency strategies. Although defections from the military continue, the conscription law is bolstering its numbers of – mostly reluctant – soldiers.
However, the fall of Syria’s oppressive government – as well as the government in Myanmar’s neighbour, Bangladesh – demonstrates how fragile long-standing regimes can be, particularly when faced with persistent challenges from armed groups and a motivated population.
And as in Syria, there are fears – particularly within China – that Myanmar could splinter along ethnic lines. The deteriorating security situation has led China to send its own private security corporations to secure its strategic investments in the country and become an active ceasefire deal-maker.
Even if the junta can be ousted, creating a workable federal system that involves power-sharing among the complex patchwork of ethnic groups will be a difficult task. The question of how to reintegrate nearly a million Rohingya displaced across the border in Bangladesh is another daunting challenge.
However, for the first time in years, there is optimism that opposition forces could eventually succeed in vanquishing the junta. Then begins the arduous task of rebuilding a shattered nation.
As a pro vice-chancellor at the University of Tasmania, Nicholas Farrelly engages with a wide range of organisations and stakeholders on educational, cultural and political issues, including at the ASEAN-Australia interface. He has previously received funding from the Australian government for Southeast Asia-related projects and from the Australian Research Council. Nicholas is on the advisory board of the ASEAN-Australia Centre, which is a new Australian government body, and also deputy chair of the board of NAATI, Australia’s government-owned accreditation authority for translators and interpreters. He writes in his personal capacity.
Adam Simpson 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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eylem Altuntas, Postdoctoral Researcher, Speech & Language Development, The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University
Babies are like little detectives, constantly piecing together clues about the world around them. If you’ve ever noticed your baby staring at you while you talk, it’s because they’re picking up on more than just sounds — they’re learning how those sounds are made.
Our recent study, published in Developmental Science, shows this amazing process starts as early as four months old, shaking up the old belief that babies learn these patterns only after tuning in to their native language between 6 and 12 months of age.
It also gives us an earlier window to help children who might be at risk of speech or language delays.
Sorting through a buffet of sounds
By their first birthday, babies are already fine-tuning their ears to the sounds of their native language in a process called perceptual attunement. Think of it like their brain sorting through a buffet of sounds to focus on the ones that matter most.
But in their first six months, babies can tell apart sounds from languages they’ve never even heard. For example, they might distinguish certain Hindi contrasts that are challenging for adult English speakers or identify unique tones in Mandarin, even if they’re growing up in an English-speaking household.
This incredible ability doesn’t last forever. Between six and 12 months, babies start narrowing their focus to the sounds they hear most often. For vowels, this fine-tuning kicks in at around six months while consonants follow at closer to ten months.
Think of it as babies zooming in on the sounds that matter, such as the difference between the “r” and “l” in English, while losing sensitivity to sounds they don’t hear regularly.
Until now, researchers thought this narrowing process was needed for babies to start learning more complex language skills, such as figuring out that the “b” in “bin” and the “d” in “din” differ because one is made with the lips and the other with the tongue tip.
But our study found babies as young as four months are already learning how sounds are physically made, long before this narrowing begins.
Here’s an example to picture this. Imagine you’re listening to someone speak a language you don’t know. Even if you don’t understand the words, you might notice how their lips or tongue move to make sounds. Four-month-old babies can do this too.
To demonstrate this, we conducted an experiment with 34 babies, aged four to six months, whose parents had provided consent to participate. We created a “match-the-pattern” game using two made up mini-languages.
One language had words with lip sounds like “b” and “v”, while the other used tongue-tip sounds like “d” and “z”. Each word, like “bivawo” or “dizalo”, was paired with a cartoon image — a jellyfish for lip words and a crab for tongue-tip words. A recording of a word was played at the same time its paired image was shown.
Why cartoons? Because babies can’t exactly tell us what they’re thinking, but they can form associations in their brains. These images helped us see if the babies could link each mini-language to the correct picture.
After the babies learned these mini-languages and their picture pairings, we mixed things up.
Instead of hearing the words, they watched silent videos of a person’s face saying new words from the same mini-languages.
In some videos, the face matched the cartoon they had learned earlier. In others, it didn’t. We then tracked how long the babies looked at the videos — a common method researchers use to see what grabs their attention. Babies tend to look longer at things that surprise or interest them and shorter at things they find familiar, helping us understand how they process and recognise what they see.
The results were clear: babies looked significantly longer at the videos where the face matched what they’d learned. This showed they weren’t just passively listening earlier — they were actively learning the rules of the mini-languages and linking that knowledge to what they saw.
The experiment involved pairing certain words with a cartoon image of a jellyfish and a crab. Eylem Altuntas
Connecting the dots
In simple terms, this means four-month-old babies can connect the dots between sound and sight. This early ability to spot patterns in how sounds are made is the foundation for learning language later on. It’s like their brains are already laying the groundwork for saying their first words.
This discovery changes what we thought we knew about babies’ early language learning. It suggests babies start figuring out patterns at four months, well before they begin perceptually attuning to the sounds of their native language between six and 12 months.
That opens up exciting new possibilities for helping children who might struggle with speech or language. If we can help earlier, we might make a big difference.
These findings raise several interesting questions. For example, can babies learn other differences such as voicing – whether a sound is made with a buzzing vibration, like the difference between “b” (buzzing) and “p” (no buzzing) – as early as four months? How does growing up in a bilingual home affect this ability? Could babies use this skill to learn patterns in entirely new languages?
By exploring these questions, we’ll keep uncovering the amazing ways babies’ brains set the stage for learning one of the most complex human skills: language.
Eylem Altuntas is a researcher at the BabyLab within the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour, and Development at Western Sydney University.
It all begins innocently – a late-night peek at your favourite social media site before bed. You catch a headline that grabs your attention with “breaking news” you can’t afford to miss.
Like following digital breadcrumbs, one click leads to another. Before you know it, you’re tumbling down a rabbit hole of endless updates and emotionally charged social media posts. Two hours later, your shoulders are tense, your stomach is in knots, but you can’t put your phone down.
This endless scrolling through bad news – known as “doomscrolling” – sneaks up on us.
It’s important to stay in touch with what’s happening in the world. Being informed helps us make better decisions, engage meaningfully in our communities, and respond effectively to changes that affect our lives and those around us.
But just like a healthy diet, we must be smart about our news consumption to avoid it taking a toll on our health.
The good news is there are proven ways to stay informed without letting it take over your life. Research shows setting clear boundaries around your news consumption can make a huge difference. So, how can you strike the right balance?
How to set boundaries with news consumption
It’s worth considering why you feel compelled to stay constantly informed. Ask yourself: “will this information change what I can do about it?”.
Research shows scrolling through negative news can disrupt your sleep and increase anxiety. To make sure your media consumption is intentional, there are a few steps you can take.
Be picky with the news sources you read. Choose a few trusted outlets instead of letting social media algorithms decide what you see. It’s like sticking to a balanced meal plan, but for your mind.
While engaging with the news, pay close attention to how you’re feeling. When you notice physical signs of anxiety or emotional distress, that is your cue to take a break.
Set aside time earlier in the day with clear boundaries around your news consumption: maybe with your morning coffee or during your lunch break, whatever works for your schedule. Consider implementing a “digital sunset”, too. This is a cut-off time for news and social media, ideally an hour or two before bedtime, to give your mind time to process what you have learned without disrupting your sleep.
The world will always be there, but you will be in a better head space to process what is happening.
You don’t have to feel helpless
Taking breaks from consuming news is not burying your head in the sand – it’s practising self care. Studies have shown that people who set healthy boundaries around news consumption are often better equipped to engage meaningfully on important issues and take constructive action when needed.
When you check the news, be an active consumer. Instead of endless scrolling:
choose one or two in-depth articles to read thoroughly
discuss the news with colleagues, friends and family to process your feelings
look for solution-focused news stories that highlight positive change
take meaningful action on issues you care about.
There are also various apps and tools that can help you form healthier digital habits. Productivity apps use various approaches to help you stay focused, providing ways to snap you out of mindless scrolling.
News curation apps and apps that allow you to save articles to read later can help you establish a balanced news diet, and remove the urgent need to read everything immediately.
Many smartphones now come equipped with screen time management features, such as Apple’s Screen Time or Android’s Digital Wellbeing. You can use these to monitor your scrolling habits and to manage how much time you spend on social media or news apps.
One useful feature is to block apps from use during certain times of day or after you’ve used them for a set amount of time.
Screen time management features allow you to pause or block apps from use. The Conversation
Stay mindful, stay engaged
Staying informed doesn’t mean staying constantly connected. By mindfully setting boundaries and using supportive tools, you can keep up with important events while protecting your wellbeing.
If you’re trying productivity apps and other tools, start small. Choose one tool that resonates with you rather than trying everything at once. Set realistic goals that fit your life, and use these apps’ insights to understand your habits better.
Pay attention to what triggers your doomscrolling and adjust your settings accordingly. Remember, these tools work best when combined with offline activities you enjoy.
The goal isn’t to disconnect completely, but to find a sustainable balance between staying informed and maintaining peace of mind. With thoughtful boundaries and the right support tools, you can stay engaged with the world while keeping your mental health intact.
Lisa Harrison 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.
But as a federal election looms this year, it’s a good time to take a closer look at Canada’s first-past-the-post electoral system, examine why it’s seen by many as unfair and to think about how an alternative system, like Ireland’s proportional representation model, could better serve Canadians.
Canada has what’s known as a single-member plurality electoral system, commonly referred to as first-past-the-post. The country is divided into electoral districts called ridings, each of which has one representative.
The winning candidate in each riding is the one who receives the most votes, although not necessarily the majority of votes. The system is “winner-takes-all” because only those candidates who come first in each riding gain a seat in Parliament.
Ireland has a proportional representation system that’s very different from first-past-the-post. Each voter has a single transferable vote, and each constituency elects several candidates. Voters can rank all the candidates on the ballot in order of their preference.
To be successful, a candidate must reach the constituency’s quota, which is calculated based on the total number of votes and the number of seats. When a candidate reaches or exceeds the quota on the first count, they are elected, and their surplus votes are distributed among the other candidates, based on voters’ second or lower preferences.
If nobody reaches the quota on the first count, as often happens, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and their votes are distributed among the other candidates. The process continues until all seats are filled.
Risks to Canadian democracy
Canada’s system poses two major challenges to democracy.
The first is voter disengagement. Under the first-past-the-post system, a candidate does not need to win more than 50 per cent of the votes; they just need to win more than their opponents. All the votes cast in favour of other candidates are discounted.
This can result in a significant disparity between a party’s share of votes and its share of seats in Parliament.
A party with less than 50 per cent of the vote share can form a majority government and dominate the parliamentary agenda until the next election.
This happened in the United Kingdom’s 2024 election (also a first-past-the-post system) — Labour received only 34 per cent of the popular vote, but took 63 per cent of the seats in British Parliament and formed a majority government. The 2019 election in Canada also illustrates the distortion produced by this system — the Conservatives won the popular vote, but the Liberals took 36 more seats and won a minority government.
From the voter’s point of view, it’s easy to see how the system causes disillusionment. If they vote for anyone other than the winning candidate, they may feel their vote is discounted and will have no bearing on the makeup of Parliament, and wonder what’s the point of casting a ballot.
The second challenge exacerbated by the first-past-the-post system is increasing polarization in politics. In a winner-takes-all system, there is no incentive for candidates to try to appeal to voters to become their second or third choice. This leads to a much more adversarial style of politics.
Malaise, polarization reduced
The Irish system mitigates against both democratic malaise and political polarization.
Under proportional representation, the voter’s first preference is always counted. But in contrast to the Canadian system, even if their first-choice candidate is eliminated — or elected on the first count with a surplus — their vote is not wasted. Instead, it’s transferred to their next choice of candidate.
These transfers often determine the outcome of the election. Elections in Ireland tend to produce parliaments that correlate much more closely to the proportion of votes a party has received than under first-past-the-post systems in Canada and the U.K.
In addition, the Irish system helps combat polarization, because candidates’ success or failure often hinges on their ability to attract transfers from supporters of other parties. Centrist candidates will be more likely to appeal to a broader base of voters and attract more transfers than candidates that seek to motivate a base of voters with extremist rhetoric.
The recent Irish general election shows how this system helps avoid excessive polarization. Research has found that countries with proportional representation systems tend to have lower levels of polarization.
Local focus?
It’s sometimes argued that proportional representation encourages parliamentarians to focus on issues in their constituency rather than national issues.
The system greatly facilitates the election of independent candidates. The incoming Irish government, for example, will consist of a coalition of the two main centrist parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, with the support of a group of independents, some of whom make no secret that their priority is their own constituency.
It can be argued, however, that responsiveness to local issues isn’t a negative — and it’s not prevented Ireland from playing an outsize role on the international stage in recent years.
Supporters of first-past-the-post argue that it produces stronger, more stable majority governments.
Even though Ireland’s party system has undoubtedly become more fragmented over the past decade, however, coalition governments have proved capable of staying the course.
Of course, Irish politics has its share of challenges. The recent election of Micheál Martin as Taoiseach (prime minister) was delayed a day after rancorous exchanges in Irish Parliament around opposition speaking time, and the country still has a stubbornly low proportion of female parliamentarians (only three women were appointed to the new cabinet as senior ministers, out of 15).
But this doesn’t change the fact that a proportional representation system still produces a parliament more reflective of voter’s choices than first-past-the-post.
Politically disengaged and polarized voters in Canada and an unrepresentative Parliament won’t help the country respond to the challenges posed by the next four years of a second Donald Trump presidency.
A new system with an element of proportionality could help curb polarization, ensure fairer representation for Canadians and transform Canadian democracy for the better.
Seána Glennon 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.
Ambassador Matilda Aku Alomatu Osei-Agyeman. (Photo: D. Calma/IAEA)
In a special meeting today the IAEA Board of Governors elected Ambassador Matilda Aku Alomatu Osei-Agyeman of Ghana as its Chairperson for 2025. She will complete the remainder of the term of office of her predecessor, Ambassador Philbert Abaka Johnson of Ghana, who was elected in September 2024. Ambassador Osei-Agyeman’s term commences today and will end in September 2025.
Ambassador Osei-Agyeman is the Permanent Representative of Ghana to the IAEA, the United Nations Offices and other international organizations in Vienna. A career diplomat with over 25 years of experience, she has held various positions in Ghana and abroad covering both bilateral and multilateral issues.
Prior to her appointment in Vienna, Ambassador Osei-Agyeman served as Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Ambassador in the Embassy of the Republic of Ghana to Italy from 2023 to 2024. She has also served in diplomatic postings in the United Kingdom, Malta, the United States of America and at Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ambassador Osei-Agyeman has also held numerous posts in Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, including, most recently, serving as Director of the Europe Bureau from 2021 to 2023 and as the first Director of the Candidatures Portfolio in 2021, where she ensured effective advocacy resulting in Ghana’s election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2022 and 2023.
Ambassador Osei-Agyeman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Ghana and a Master of Arts in international affairs from the Legon Centre for International Affairs & Diplomacy in Ghana. She has also participated in various courses on leadership and diplomacy.
You wake up at 7:00 and reflexively reach for your phone. Between the stream of emails, WhatsApps and breaking news alerts, you see a worrying reminder: you averaged 11 hours of daily screen time last week. You swipe the notification away and open TikTok, where a woman in a matching athleisure set and glossy, slicked-back ponytail urges you to “get ready with me for my 5-9 before my 9-5”.
You think about getting out of bed for a workout or meditation before you start answering those emails. But before you know it, it’s 8:57 – and if you don’t get off the apps and onto your computer, you’ll be late.
Sound familiar? Though many people have more leisure time now than in the past, paradoxically, more free time comes with increased time pressure. For many of us, it feels as if we don’t have control over our time – rather, time is controlling us. This is because our collective experience of time both comes from and governs society.
Instead of saving us time, the pace of modernity has led to many of us feeling as if our time is slipping away. And any time we “gain back”, we devote – by necessity or choice – to making more money, maybe through a side hustle. Losing control over time can have negative consequences for both physical and mental wellbeing.
Ready to make a change? The Quarter Life Glow-up is a new, six-week newsletter course from The Conversation’s UK and Canada editions.
Every week, we’ll bring you research-backed advice and tools to help improve your relationships, your career, your free time and your mental health – no supplements or skincare required. Sign up here to start your glow-up at any time.
We are trapped in a perpetual cycle of rushing to survive and consume. But consumption also takes time, so the time available to enjoy our newly acquired possessions declines. You buy a faster new computer, but then need to spend multiple, frustrating hours configuring it to your preferences.
Even trying to save time by mastering a productivity hack or reading a self-help book takes (you guessed it) time.
As time use researchers, we often grapple with an uncomfortable truth – your time is not fully yours – it belongs to us all. Time is a network good. We live in a web of time: giving, taking and sharing time with everyone around us. In other words, the decisions and actions of the people around you shape how much time you have.
This presents a catch-22. Friends, family, colleagues and even neighbours require our time, and we need theirs, too. We share time with our social network members because we need strong ties for our wellbeing. However, building lasting relationships means that we have to control our time in order to share it with others.
Unfortunately, we don’t all have the same amount of control. Socioeconomic and demographic factors – gender, financial circumstances, age, race, and where you live – all influence how you can make decisions about time. These factors shape how we can interact with others.
Even seemingly mundane choices, such as how many extra minutes of sleep you give yourself in the morning, are shaped by societal expectations, power structures and economic constraints. If your job starts at 8am and your commute is two hours, it is unlikely that you can afford extra time to sleep in the mornings. If you are a parent, you might have to wake up even earlier to make sure that everyone has their breakfast and lunch packed for school.
This is why the hundreds of self-help articles telling you how to optimise your time by carefully budgeting every minute of it never manage to give you full control.
Breaking this vicious cycle starts with understanding, then practising self-compassion in the face of the demands on your time.
Get in control
Gaining control over your time starts with “why”. We don’t all have the luxury of saying no to tasks we deem unnecessary or unpleasant.
We can, however, ask ourselves why we are spending our time on certain things. Before your next decision, big or small, try asking yourself: why am I doing this?
If the answer is rooted in social pressure, outdated norms, or an obligation toward someone who does not deserve the gift of your precious time, consider how you could switch to doing something else.
Try to spend your time on activities and with people who nourish you, enriching your moments. You may not be able to completely avoid spending part of your time as your boss dictates. But understanding the larger power dynamics shaping your personal situation and your time will help you approach decisions with conscious intention, giving you greater control over this irreplaceable resource.
Regularly questioning the reason behind your actions will reveal the social patterns driving your decision-making processes. Why did you agree to do something, only to regret it later? Why are you always the one donating time to emotional labour at the office?
Consistently asking “why” creates a habit of mindfulness, and will give you the insight needed to begin to make more informed choices that reflect your true priorities. Ultimately, gaining more control over your time is not about rigidly adhering to a schedule or productivity hacks. It is impossible to subject every minute of your existence to your will – time is not yours to hold on to.
But you can make the most of the time you do have control over by making conscious decisions that align with your own desires and goals. Like one of our research participants, you may soon find yourself looking in the mirror and proclaiming: “I love time! Time lets me become!”
Boróka Bó receives funding from Enterprise Ireland. She has previously received funding from the National Science Foundation and held a Soros Fellowship.
Kamila Kolpashnikova receives funding from SSHRC (Insight Grant number: 435-2023-1060).
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Caroline Fowler, Starr Director of the Research and Academic Program, Clark Art Institute, and lecturer in Art History, Williams College
The so-called golden age of Dutch painting in the 1600s coincided with an economic boom that had a lot to do with the transatlantic slave trade. But how did the slave trade shape the art market in the Netherlands? And how is it reflected in the paintings of the time?
This is the subject of a new book called Slavery and the Invention of Dutch Art by art historian Caroline Fowler. We asked about her study.
What was Dutch art about before slavery and what was the golden age?
The earliest paintings that would be called Dutch were predominantly religious. They were made for Christian devotion. In the 1500s, major divisions in the church led to a fragmentation of Christianity called the Reformation.
In this new religious climate, artists began to create new types of paintings, studying the world around them. They included landscapes, seascapes, still lifes, and interior scenes of their homes. Instead of working for the church, many painters began to work within an art market. There was a rising middle class that could afford to buy paintings.
Duke University Press
Historically, this period in Dutch economic prosperity has been called the “golden age”. This is when many of the most famous Dutch painters worked, such as Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer.
Their work was made possible by a strong Dutch economy built on global trade networks. This included the transatlantic slave trade and the rise of the middle class. Although artists did not directly paint the transatlantic slave trade, in my book I argue that it is central to understanding the paintings produced in the 1600s as it made the economic market possible.
In turn, many of the types of painting that developed, like maritime scenes and interior scenes, are often obliquely or directly about international trade. The slave trade is a haunting presence in these images.
How did this play out within Dutch colonialism?
The new “middle class” consisted of economically prosperous merchants, artisans, lawyers and doctors. For many of the wealthiest merchants, their prosperity was fuelled by their investments in trade overseas. In land and plantations, and also commodities such as sugar, salt, mace and nutmeg.
Slavery was illegal within the boundaries of the Dutch Republic on the European continent. But it was widely practised within Dutch colonies around the world. Slavery was central to their trade overseas – from the inter-Asian slave network that made possible their domination in the export of nutmeg, to the use of enslaved labour on plantations in the Americas. It also contributed in less visible ways to Dutch economic prosperity, like the development of maritime insurance.
What was the relationship between artists and Dutch colonies?
In the new school of painting, artists would sometimes travel to the Dutch colonies. For example, Frans Post travelled to Dutch Brazil and painted the sugar plantations and mills. Another artist named Maria Sibylla Merian went to Dutch Suriname, where she studied butterflies and plants on the Dutch sugar plantations.
Both depict landscapes and the natural world but don’t directly engage with the profound dehumanisation of slavery, and an economic system dependent on enslaved labour. But this doesn’t mean that it’s absent in their sanitised renditions.
Among the sources that I used to think about the presence of the transatlantic slave trade in a culture that did not overtly depict it were inventories of paintings and early museum collections. Often the language in these sources differed from the painting in important ways. They demonstrate how the violence of the system emerges in unexpected places.
One inventory that describes paintings by Frans Post, for example, also narrates the physical punishment meted out if the enslaved tried to run away from the Dutch sugar plantations. This isn’t depicted in the painting, but it is part of the inventory that travelled beside the painting.
These moments reveal the profound presence of this system within Dutch painting, and point to the ways in which artists negotiated making this structure invisible in their paintings although they were not able to completely erase its presence.
How do you discuss Rembrandt’s paintings in your book?
Historically, studies of the transatlantic slave trade in early modern painting (about 1400-1700) have looked at paintings that directly depict either enslaved or Black individuals.
One of the points of this book is that this limits our understanding of the transatlantic slave trade in Dutch painting. A focus on blackness, for example, precludes understanding how whiteness is constructed at the same time. It fails to recognise the ways in which artists sought to diminish the presence of the slave trade in their sanitised rendition of Dutch society.
Syndics of the Draper’s Guild by Rembrandt.Txllxt TxllxT/Wikimedia Commons/Rijksmuseum
One painting that I use to think about this is Rembrandt van Rijn’s very famous work called Syndics of the Draper’s Guild. It’s a group portrait of wealthy, white merchants gathered around a table looking at a book of fabric samples.
Although there aren’t enslaved or black individuals depicted, this painting would be impossible without the transatlantic slave trade. Cloth from the Netherlands was often exchanged for enslaved people in west Africa, for example.
In my book, I draw attention to these understudied histories to understand how certain assumptions around whiteness, privilege, and wealth developed in tandem with an emerging visual vocabulary around blackness and the transformation of individual lives into chattel property.
What do you hope readers will take away from the book?
I hope that readers will think about how many of our ideas about freedom, the middle class, art markets, and economic prosperity began in the 17th-century Dutch Republic. As this book demonstrates, a central part of this narrative that has been overlooked was the transatlantic slave trade in building this fantasy.
This is in many ways an invention that traces back to the paintings of overt consumption and wealth produced in the Dutch Republic – like Vermeer’s interiors of Dutch homes.
My aim with this book is to present not only a more complex view of Dutch painting but also a reconsideration of certain dogmas today around prosperity and the art market. The rise of our current financial system, art markets and visible celebration of landscapes, seascapes and interior scenes are all inseparable from the transformation of individual lives into property. We live with this legacy today in our systems built on racial, economic and gendered inequalities.
– Rereading Rembrandt: how the slave trade helped establish the golden age of Dutch painting – https://theconversation.com/rereading-rembrandt-how-the-slave-trade-helped-establish-the-golden-age-of-dutch-painting-247918
What began in late 2016 as a peaceful protest by lawyers and teachers in Cameroon’s North West and South West regions quickly turned violent and developed into what’s become known as Cameroon’s anglophone crisis.
The protest was instigated by perceived marginalisation of Cameroon’s anglophone region, which makes up 20% of the nation’s 29 million people.
The conflict has resulted in immense destruction and casualties. Cameroon’s military responded to the protest with arrests and torture. Voices that called for complete secession of the anglophone regions from the Republic of Cameroon gained momentum.
They created a virtual Ambazonia Republic and an interim government in exile, and vowed to fight back. They formed a military wing, Ambazonia Self-Defence Force, which attacked and disrupted economic and social services in the region.
As of October 2024, over 1.8 million people have needed humanitarian assistance. Over 584,000 have been internally displaced. Over 73,000 have become refugees in next-door Nigeria. Over 6,500 have been killed.
One possible avenue that could be pursued to end the impasse is mediation, with help from other countries. But the Cameroonian government has repeatedly rebuffed intervention from organisations such as the African Union, arguing that the conflict is an internal affair.
It also ended a government-sponsored mediation by the Swiss in 2022.
It is clear to me, as a historian who has studied Cameroon foreign policy for the past three decades, that Cameroon’s leadership will not look to external actors to help solve their crisis.
Founding leader Ahmadou Ahidjo, and later his successor Paul Biya, did not respond to external pressure to address issues. Cameroon’s diplomatic relations are based on respect of national sovereignty and nonintervention in each other’s internal affairs.
My research shows that the Cameroonian leadership rejects outside intervention on issues it regards as within its sovereignty and internal affairs.
In the 1960s, Ahidjo used brutal force against a nationalist organisation called the Maquisard. His presidency was characterised by murders, imprisonments and torture.
Political rivals were imprisoned or forced to go into exile. Biya, who served in Ahidjo’s government, learned that repressive measures work. As president, he used similar tactics against rivals and the opposition.
But the use of force as a response to the anglophone protest was a miscalculation. The Biya regime failed to see the crisis in its context of changing times, misunderstood the sources of the conflict, and misread the role of social media in protest activities in the 21st century.
The crisis originated from a series of grievances: poverty, unemployment, political and economic neglect of the anglophone region, failure to treat French and English as equal languages in the country, and disrespect and disregard of English-speaking Cameroonians.
At the beginning protesters were generally peaceful, but things changed in 2017. Biya stated that Cameroon was being hijacked by “terrorists masking as secessionists” and vowed to eliminate them.
To anglophone leaders it was a formal declaration of war, and the message spread quickly on social media. The Biya team did little to slow or stop its spread, and anglophones inside and outside the country accepted the message as fact. It mobilised the region. And few took the time to read the full text of his remarks.
The brutality of the war on both sides intensified. Everything had all happened so quickly, and most did not anticipate the intensity of the violence.
In its diplomatic relations, Cameroon has a long history of protecting what it sees as its own business.
One example was in 1992, after the US administration criticised Biya for electoral fraud. The Cameroon government fired back. Biya withdrew Cameroon’s ambassador from Washington DC, and informed the US ambassador that America should stay clear of Cameroon’s internal affairs.
In 2008, tension erupted again when Biya changed Cameroon’s constitution to eliminate presidential term limits. The US ambassador criticised the move in the Cameroonian press. Again, Cameroonian officials pushed back, asking the ambassador not to interfere in the nation’s internal politics.
America’s disposition towards the anglophone crisis has been one of non-interference. Other major powers have responded similarly, asking both sides to end the violence.
The Cameroon government has rebuffed initiatives from Switzerland and Canada, both friendly to the country, publicly stating it asked no nation to mediate.
The rejection of the Swiss initiative was surprising, given that Biya spends much time in that country. Unlike the Swiss plan, in which conversations began, the Canadian initiative did not even take off.
Measurable indicators show that the Biya regime is failing to end the anglophone crisis. The killings – including those of law enforcement officers – kidnaps, brutality and ransom demands are now normalised in the anglophone region, especially in rural areas.
People are exasperated by public service announcements about what the government has achieved. Their condition remains much worse than it was in the pre-crisis period.
Ordinary people are focused on bread-and-butter issues and the desire for dignity and respect. But they don’t see it.
Young Cameroonians need to see both anglophone and francophone residents at every level of government, on every rung of the business ladder, in every management position, at every school — even on every billboard advertisement.
Only such a widespread and visible approach can convincingly challenge Cameroon’s pattern of discrimination and exclusion.
The Biya regime must commit to doing that and not be distracted by supporters urging him to be a candidate in the upcoming presidential election.
It is important to track and bring to justice the apparent sponsors of the killings in the country. This must be done while government keeps its promises to make things right for those living in the anglophone regions.
Finally, given China’s investment in Cameroon, it can do more to engage the Biya regime on the anglophone crisis. Like Cameroon, China’s policy also stipulates a policy of nonintervention, but it has repeatedly changed course when its strategic interests are threatened.
Major power status demands major responsibilities, and showing the will to stop chronic human rights violations remains an important obligation.
– Cameroon could do with some foreign help to solve anglophone crisis – but the state doesn’t want it – https://theconversation.com/cameroon-could-do-with-some-foreign-help-to-solve-anglophone-crisis-but-the-state-doesnt-want-it-244770
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Caroline Fowler, Starr Director of the Research and Academic Program, Clark Art Institute, and lecturer in Art History, Williams College
The so-called golden age of Dutch painting in the 1600s coincided with an economic boom that had a lot to do with the transatlantic slave trade. But how did the slave trade shape the art market in the Netherlands? And how is it reflected in the paintings of the time?
This is the subject of a new book called Slavery and the Invention of Dutch Art by art historian Caroline Fowler. We asked about her study.
What was Dutch art about before slavery and what was the golden age?
The earliest paintings that would be called Dutch were predominantly religious. They were made for Christian devotion. In the 1500s, major divisions in the church led to a fragmentation of Christianity called the Reformation.
In this new religious climate, artists began to create new types of paintings, studying the world around them. They included landscapes, seascapes, still lifes, and interior scenes of their homes. Instead of working for the church, many painters began to work within an art market. There was a rising middle class that could afford to buy paintings.
Historically, this period in Dutch economic prosperity has been called the “golden age”. This is when many of the most famous Dutch painters worked, such as Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer.
Their work was made possible by a strong Dutch economy built on global trade networks. This included the transatlantic slave trade and the rise of the middle class. Although artists did not directly paint the transatlantic slave trade, in my book I argue that it is central to understanding the paintings produced in the 1600s as it made the economic market possible.
In turn, many of the types of painting that developed, like maritime scenes and interior scenes, are often obliquely or directly about international trade. The slave trade is a haunting presence in these images.
How did this play out within Dutch colonialism?
The new “middle class” consisted of economically prosperous merchants, artisans, lawyers and doctors. For many of the wealthiest merchants, their prosperity was fuelled by their investments in trade overseas. In land and plantations, and also commodities such as sugar, salt, mace and nutmeg.
Slavery was illegal within the boundaries of the Dutch Republic on the European continent. But it was widely practised within Dutch colonies around the world. Slavery was central to their trade overseas – from the inter-Asian slave network that made possible their domination in the export of nutmeg, to the use of enslaved labour on plantations in the Americas. It also contributed in less visible ways to Dutch economic prosperity, like the development of maritime insurance.
What was the relationship between artists and Dutch colonies?
In the new school of painting, artists would sometimes travel to the Dutch colonies. For example, Frans Post travelled to Dutch Brazil and painted the sugar plantations and mills. Another artist named Maria Sibylla Merian went to Dutch Suriname, where she studied butterflies and plants on the Dutch sugar plantations.
Both depict landscapes and the natural world but don’t directly engage with the profound dehumanisation of slavery, and an economic system dependent on enslaved labour. But this doesn’t mean that it’s absent in their sanitised renditions.
Among the sources that I used to think about the presence of the transatlantic slave trade in a culture that did not overtly depict it were inventories of paintings and early museum collections. Often the language in these sources differed from the painting in important ways. They demonstrate how the violence of the system emerges in unexpected places.
One inventory that describes paintings by Frans Post, for example, also narrates the physical punishment meted out if the enslaved tried to run away from the Dutch sugar plantations. This isn’t depicted in the painting, but it is part of the inventory that travelled beside the painting.
These moments reveal the profound presence of this system within Dutch painting, and point to the ways in which artists negotiated making this structure invisible in their paintings although they were not able to completely erase its presence.
How do you discuss Rembrandt’s paintings in your book?
Historically, studies of the transatlantic slave trade in early modern painting (about 1400-1700) have looked at paintings that directly depict either enslaved or Black individuals.
One of the points of this book is that this limits our understanding of the transatlantic slave trade in Dutch painting. A focus on blackness, for example, precludes understanding how whiteness is constructed at the same time. It fails to recognise the ways in which artists sought to diminish the presence of the slave trade in their sanitised rendition of Dutch society.
One painting that I use to think about this is Rembrandt van Rijn’s very famous work called Syndics of the Draper’s Guild. It’s a group portrait of wealthy, white merchants gathered around a table looking at a book of fabric samples.
Although there aren’t enslaved or black individuals depicted, this painting would be impossible without the transatlantic slave trade. Cloth from the Netherlands was often exchanged for enslaved people in west Africa, for example.
In my book, I draw attention to these understudied histories to understand how certain assumptions around whiteness, privilege, and wealth developed in tandem with an emerging visual vocabulary around blackness and the transformation of individual lives into chattel property.
What do you hope readers will take away from the book?
I hope that readers will think about how many of our ideas about freedom, the middle class, art markets, and economic prosperity began in the 17th-century Dutch Republic. As this book demonstrates, a central part of this narrative that has been overlooked was the transatlantic slave trade in building this fantasy.
This is in many ways an invention that traces back to the paintings of overt consumption and wealth produced in the Dutch Republic – like Vermeer’s interiors of Dutch homes.
My aim with this book is to present not only a more complex view of Dutch painting but also a reconsideration of certain dogmas today around prosperity and the art market. The rise of our current financial system, art markets and visible celebration of landscapes, seascapes and interior scenes are all inseparable from the transformation of individual lives into property. We live with this legacy today in our systems built on racial, economic and gendered inequalities.
Caroline Fowler 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.
What began in late 2016 as a peaceful protest by lawyers and teachers in Cameroon’s North West and South West regions quickly turned violent and developed into what’s become known as Cameroon’s anglophone crisis.
The protest was instigated by perceived marginalisation of Cameroon’s anglophone region, which makes up 20% of the nation’s 29 million people.
The conflict has resulted in immense destruction and casualties. Cameroon’s military responded to the protest with arrests and torture. Voices that called for complete secession of the anglophone regions from the Republic of Cameroon gained momentum.
They created a virtual Ambazonia Republic and an interim government in exile, and vowed to fight back. They formed a military wing, Ambazonia Self-Defence Force, which attacked and disrupted economic and social services in the region.
As of October 2024, over 1.8 million people have needed humanitarian assistance. Over 584,000 have been internally displaced. Over 73,000 have become refugees in next-door Nigeria. Over 6,500 have been killed.
One possible avenue that could be pursued to end the impasse is mediation, with help from other countries. But the Cameroonian government has repeatedly rebuffed intervention from organisations such as the African Union, arguing that the conflict is an internal affair.
It also ended a government-sponsored mediation by the Swiss in 2022.
It is clear to me, as a historian who has studied Cameroon foreign policy for the past three decades, that Cameroon’s leadership will not look to external actors to help solve their crisis.
Founding leader Ahmadou Ahidjo, and later his successor Paul Biya, did not respond to external pressure to address issues. Cameroon’s diplomatic relations are based on respect of national sovereignty and nonintervention in each other’s internal affairs.
My research shows that the Cameroonian leadership rejects outside intervention on issues it regards as within its sovereignty and internal affairs.
In the 1960s, Ahidjo used brutal force against a nationalist organisation called the Maquisard. His presidency was characterised by murders, imprisonments and torture.
Political rivals were imprisoned or forced to go into exile. Biya, who served in Ahidjo’s government, learned that repressive measures work. As president, he used similar tactics against rivals and the opposition.
But the use of force as a response to the anglophone protest was a miscalculation. The Biya regime failed to see the crisis in its context of changing times, misunderstood the sources of the conflict, and misread the role of social media in protest activities in the 21st century.
The crisis originated from a series of grievances: poverty, unemployment, political and economic neglect of the anglophone region, failure to treat French and English as equal languages in the country, and disrespect and disregard of English-speaking Cameroonians.
At the beginning protesters were generally peaceful, but things changed in 2017. Biya stated that Cameroon was being hijacked by “terrorists masking as secessionists” and vowed to eliminate them.
To anglophone leaders it was a formal declaration of war, and the message spread quickly on social media. The Biya team did little to slow or stop its spread, and anglophones inside and outside the country accepted the message as fact. It mobilised the region. And few took the time to read the full text of his remarks.
The brutality of the war on both sides intensified. Everything had all happened so quickly, and most did not anticipate the intensity of the violence.
In its diplomatic relations, Cameroon has a long history of protecting what it sees as its own business.
One example was in 1992, after the US administration criticised Biya for electoral fraud. The Cameroon government fired back. Biya withdrew Cameroon’s ambassador from Washington DC, and informed the US ambassador that America should stay clear of Cameroon’s internal affairs.
In 2008, tension erupted again when Biya changed Cameroon’s constitution to eliminate presidential term limits. The US ambassador criticised the move in the Cameroonian press. Again, Cameroonian officials pushed back, asking the ambassador not to interfere in the nation’s internal politics.
America’s disposition towards the anglophone crisis has been one of non-interference. Other major powers have responded similarly, asking both sides to end the violence.
The Cameroon government has rebuffed initiatives from Switzerland and Canada, both friendly to the country, publicly stating it asked no nation to mediate.
The rejection of the Swiss initiative was surprising, given that Biya spends much time in that country. Unlike the Swiss plan, in which conversations began, the Canadian initiative did not even take off.
Measurable indicators show that the Biya regime is failing to end the anglophone crisis. The killings – including those of law enforcement officers – kidnaps, brutality and ransom demands are now normalised in the anglophone region, especially in rural areas.
People are exasperated by public service announcements about what the government has achieved. Their condition remains much worse than it was in the pre-crisis period.
Ordinary people are focused on bread-and-butter issues and the desire for dignity and respect. But they don’t see it.
Young Cameroonians need to see both anglophone and francophone residents at every level of government, on every rung of the business ladder, in every management position, at every school — even on every billboard advertisement.
Only such a widespread and visible approach can convincingly challenge Cameroon’s pattern of discrimination and exclusion.
The Biya regime must commit to doing that and not be distracted by supporters urging him to be a candidate in the upcoming presidential election.
It is important to track and bring to justice the apparent sponsors of the killings in the country. This must be done while government keeps its promises to make things right for those living in the anglophone regions.
Finally, given China’s investment in Cameroon, it can do more to engage the Biya regime on the anglophone crisis. Like Cameroon, China’s policy also stipulates a policy of nonintervention, but it has repeatedly changed course when its strategic interests are threatened.
Major power status demands major responsibilities, and showing the will to stop chronic human rights violations remains an important obligation.
Julius A. Amin 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.
In the 1950s, the American psychologist Harry Harlow provided a stark demonstration of the importance of a mother’s touch. He famously – and controversially – showed that rhesus monkeys would rather cling to a surrogate “mother” made of soft cloth than one made of metal wire that provided milk. A loving touch seemed to be more important than food, Harlow concluded.
Today, the importance of touch has become firmly embedded in infant care. For example, UNICEF and the NHS recommend skin-to-skin contact between a parent and newborn. This involves placing a newborn on a parent’s bare chest, both of them covered in a warm blanket, for at least an hour after birth or until after the first feed.
In fact, feeling the power of touch begins long before a baby is even born. Touch is the first sense to develop. Just eight weeks after conception, a foetus already responds to the sensation of touch in the womb – and it is crucial for people of any age.
By 14 weeks, twins have been observed on ultrasound sucking on each other’s fingers and exploring each other’s faces. And frame-by-frame analyses of ultrasound have shown that, by 20 weeks, foetuses respond to mothers touching their bellies.
The benefits of parental touch become clear at birth. One review of 52 studies involving over 4,000 newborns found that touch interventions – such as skin-to-skin contact and baby massage – was associated with better newborn health, including better regulation of temperature, breathing and heart rate. The review also found that touch was more beneficial when it came from a parent compared to medical staff.
Cuddle up, because there are other benefits of skin-to-skin contact. When a parent holds their baby in skin-to-skin contact after birth, it helps to calm the newborn and stimulates an interest in feeding. In the longer-term, daily skin-to-skin contact with infants improves sleep patterns and pain tolerance, supports healthy weight gain and continued breastfeeding and strengthens brain development.
These benefits are also experienced by infants born prematurely. For example, one review of kangaroo care – skin-to-skin contact for premature or low birth-weight infants – found that it reduced the risk of death, infection and low body temperature, and improved weight gain and rates of breastfeeding.
In both healthy and premature infants, skin-to-skin contact also triggers the release of the hormone oxytocin – the so-called “love hormone” – which encourages bonding between the parent and infant. Skin-to-skin contact also lowers levels of the hormone cortisol, which helps newborns to regulate levels of stress.
In fact, the benefits of skin-to-skin contact are not exclusively experienced by the newborn. Studies have found that daily skin-to-skin contact with their babies can reduce symptoms of postpartum stress, depression and anxiety in mothers. And while most studies have focused on mothers, skin-to-skin contact also seems to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in fathers.
While most of this research has focused the short-term outcomes of touch, scientists are also following infants over time to see what impact early touch has on long-term outcomes. For example, one study found that premature babies who received at least one hour of kangaroo care for two weeks had better mother-child interactions, sleep and brain development when they were ten years old.
Another group of researchers followed infants and their mothers for a period of nine years. When they were only one-month-old, infants who had experienced skin-to-skin contact with their mothers already showed better emotional adjustment and attachment than infants who had no skin-to-skin contact.
Nine years later, these children were also more willing and able to engage in emotive conversations with their mothers.
Some of the effects of touch are more difficult to quantify. In the 1970s, for example, the psychiatrist Donald Winnicott described how a mother’s touch helps infants and young children to experience the body as “the place where one securely lives”. This idea seems to be supported by ethnographic records and anthropological studies of communities where infants are in close contact with a caregiver.
For instance, in many communities – such as the Netsilik, !Kung, and Balinese – infants are pressed skin-to-skin with their mothers for much of the day. This means that infants are more likely to have their needs met quickly – being comforted when they cry or fed when they suckle – while also helping them develop a sensitivity to touch. These forms of “skinship” also help parents and their infants to develop deeper bonds through touch.
While this research shows the benefits of touch in infancy, what about childhood? Studies of young children and adolescents have shown that touch – particularly caring touch like hugging from a parent or other caregivers, such as teachers – can support psychological development and wellbeing. For instance, touch can help children develop a sense of emotional security, belonging and feelings of support, especially in stressful situations.
The anthropologist Marjorie Goodwin has described how “haptic rituals” – such as hugs between a parent and their child over the course of a day – can help the child feel loved and cared for.
Regularly experiencing caring touch can also help children to develop their social interaction skills, including empathy toward others. Caring touch also reduces aggressive behaviour in adolescence.
Unfortunately, even today, many parents hold on to old fashioned ideas – popularised by psychologists like John Watson – that they should avoid caring touch with their children, out of fear that hugging or cuddling will cause their children to become weak willed. The scientific evidence doesn’t support such ideas, so go hug your kids.
Viren Swami 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.
Lunar new year is the most important traditional festival for the Chinese people, symbolising unity, prosperity and hope for the future. It is, however, celebrated all over Asia and in the diaspora.
Unlike, the new year that is celebrated only on December 31 and January 1, lunar new year celebrations begin the month before and end days after the start of the new year.
In the Chinese tradition, new year celebration begins on the eighth day of the 12th lunar month with the Laba festival (腊八节). On this day, it is customary to eat Laba congee, a porridge which is also known as “eight-treasure congee” because it’s often made with eight or more ingredients. This year the Laba festival fell on January 7.
The biggest day in this period of celebration is, of course, new year, which this year falls on January 29.
According to historical records, the Chinese people have been celebrating the lunar new year for over 4,000 years. Around 2,000BC, Shun, an ancient Chinese leader, ascended to the throne and led his followers in a worship ceremony to honour heaven and earth.
This day was regarded as the beginning of the year, corresponding to the first day of the first lunar month. This event is believed to mark the origin of the lunar new year.
During this festival, people typically express their hopes for prosperity and health in the coming year through family reunions and ancestor worship. Communities also host traditional activities to celebrate, such as lion dances, the giving of red envelopes, and putting up of spring couplets (pairs of poems written on red paper with black or gold characters), all of which symbolise good fortune and abundance.
The traditional Chinese lunar new year reunion dinner includes many symbolic dishes. For example, eating fish represents abundance, dumplings symbolise reunion and wealth, and rice cakes signify progress and success.
Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
But this day isn’t the end of celebrations. Instead, new year is celebrated up until the 15th day of the first lunar month when the lantern festival (元宵节) is celebrated. This festival coincides with the first full moon of the lunar year. On this day reconciliation, peace and forgiveness are sought.
To celebrate, people will cover their houses with colourful lanterns, often with riddles written on them. Children will go out and try to solve these to win small gifts. There might be lion and dragon dances as well as parades and fireworks. People eat small glutinous rice balls, known as yuanxiao or tangyuan. The round shape symbolises wholeness and unity within the family.
This year’s lantern festival – and the end of lunar new year celebrations – is on February 12. By this time, we will be well into 2025, which is the year of the snake.
The year of the snake
The year of the snake holds profound meaning and special significance in Chinese culture. The animal symbolises wisdom, spirituality, elegance and renewal.
In Chinese traditions, the snake is also considered a “small dragon” and has a unique presence. Many scholars believe that the basic form of the dragon has evolved from the snake, with the snake’s body forming the main structure of the mythical beast.
In ancient art, images of dragons and snakes often overlap, with motifs that appear simultaneously dragon-like and snake-like being very common.
In ancient China, the snake was regarded as a mysterious and powerful creature. Its strong reproductive ability symbolised a continuous lineage and abundant offspring, while its ability to shed its skin and renew itself represented life and longevity. This process of renewal and rebirth highlighted the snake’s connection to cycles of growth and the passage of time.
Beyond its physical traits, the snake was also revered for its intelligence and adaptability, often being portrayed as a creature of wisdom and strategy.
These qualities have translated into cultural beliefs about people born in the year of the snake. For instance, for those born in this year, the snake’s flexibility and patience are seen as representing wisdom in problem-solving and overcoming challenges.
Sijing Lu 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.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Barry Richards, Emeritus Professor of Political Psychology, Bournemouth University
The conviction of Axel Rudakubana for the murder of three young girls in Southport has prompted many questions about how the UK handles violence without a clear ideological motive. This case has also shown up the confusion in this area, and made clear the need for a basic reframing of how we understand murderous violence against the public today.
The home secretary may be right to keep Prevent focused on violent Islamist and extreme right-wing terror. Yet there needs to be a complementary but distinct strategy to protect against another Southport-style attacker.
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, has come rather late to his observation that the nature of terrorism has changed. Over four years ago it was becoming clear that the “terrorist” threat was increasingly coming from those with no clear and consistent attachment to any specific ideology, let alone any terrorist organisation.
This is borne out in the latest data on referrals to the Prevent counter-terrorism scheme. “Mixed, unstable and unclear” ideologies – when added to school massacre fixations and incel cases – outrank both extreme right-wing and Islamist categories.
Rudakubana had an al-Qaida-linked document in his possession, and had claimed to be a victim of racism. But overall his motive was not at all ideological, but is to be found in his mental ill-health.
Want more politics coverage from academic experts? Every week, we bring you informed analysis of developments in government and fact check the claims being made.
All the evidence presents him as a profoundly damaged individual who harboured an overwhelming need to inflict deathly violence, unconnected with any political aim. His choice of young children as victims is probably also of psychological significance.
Thus it may not be quite right to say, as the home secretary Yvette Cooper and others have, that Prevent “failed”. A cluster of agencies do seem collectively to have failed here. But Prevent was not designed to deal with apolitical and apparently random attacks on people unknown to the perpetrator.
What has failed is the conceptual frame underlying the UK’s counter-terrorism approach, which sees terrorism simply as an ideologically-driven response to the world. This understands it as basically different from attacks which are apparently not ideologically-driven, and so are seen as more idiosyncratic and psychological, like school massacres (though these have come to fall within Prevent’s remit).
Internal drivers of violence
However, it is also true that many of those who do have conventional terrorist aims are also driven by forces in their internal worlds.
While often not given a psychiatric diagnosis, many people who have carried out attacks appear to have been emotionally dysfunctional. Evidence for this goes back at least as far as 9/11, to the personality of the ringleader Mohamed Atta. It has since been accumulating in what is known of many convicted attackers, including those with lengthy ideological rationales, such as Anders Breivik.
The emergence of “incel” terror has further blurred the distinction between those with an apparent ideological rationale and those with obvious psychological problems.
At the psychological level, there is no clear separation between lone actor ideological attackers and those who are supposedly non-ideological. Common to all is some disturbance within the self, one requiring the enactment of lethal violence.
Ironically, the clear presence of psychological factors can also be seen – at a different level – in some of the people involved in the violent riots which occurred in response to the Southport murders. These were, in considerable part, the creation of online agitators, extreme right-wing activists and their bussed-in followers.
But some who took part were more casual joiners of the riots. These were people of no fixed ideological abode who were drawn by the excitement of the occasion and the opportunity to attack the police and other symbols of social order. The same psychological motive may be attributed to the “Maga tourist” element among the January 2021 invaders of the Capitol building in Washington DC.
Protecting the public
Such problems of group-based violence in public spaces may be amenable to primarily political and policy solutions (albeit very difficult ones to achieve). However, individuals who may suddenly erupt into violence, ideological or not, are even more difficult to identify, assess, monitor and contain.
The first step towards better protecting the public should be to recognise the psychological drivers of all such attacks. These include a preoccupation with grievance, often linked to a powerful sense of humiliation and psychological defences against that. For example, the hypermasculinity and fantasied omnipotence of Islamic State.
It is necessary, for various reasons, to retain the legal category of terrorist attacks. But it should be a subcategory of a more inclusive approach that covers all violent attacks on the public.
Where there is little or no consistent ideological element, the term terrorism, which has political connotations, should not be employed. Violence that doesn’t aim to promote a political objective would be better described as the infliction of terror on innocent members of the public, as a form of revenge upon the world or as an expression of hatred. Other political terms such as “radicalisation” and “extremism” may also be inappropriate or confusing when applied to such cases.
A conceptual framework which makes that distinction, while also recognising the common psychological ground of the draw towards violence, would allow for more effective interventions.
Prevent could continue its work (with much-needed improvements) to minimise ideologically rationalised attacks. But it would be coordinated with a complementary national agency that oversees and supports local services in identifying and managing people like Rudakubana. The face-to-face client work of both prongs would be guided and overseen by forensic psychiatrists and psychotherapists.
There will be more people in both sub-categories coming along with very weak control of their violent impulses. They will need skilful management that understands the drivers of profound disturbance.
Barry Richards 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.
