Biden’s equivocation on abortion rights is snowballing into key campaign issue in 2024 US elections
The proclamation “I will aid and abet abortion” appeared across social media soon after Donald Trump’s Supreme Court justices did what they were appointed to do: overturn Roe v. Wade ruling on abortions rights. Leaving aside the question of whether it’s a great idea to advertise one’s intent to engage...
Ethiopia’s forgotten war: Oromo Liberation Army only responds to state terrorism, human rights abuse
In November 2020 an outbreak of violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region captured worldwide attention. The conflict was between Tigrayan forces and the forces of the Ethiopian government and its allies. Since then, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been under increasing global pressure to negotiate with Tigrayan officials to stop the...
Violence against women: Media and researchers should stop revelling in calling South Africa ‘rape capital’
Researchers and journalists in South Africa tend to portray sexual violence as an ever-worsening crisis, focusing on either the latest police statistics or the most violent and horrific recent incidents. Since the late 1970s, the media has displayed a near obsession with reporting rape numbers and gruesome case details. The...
Design thinking: A powerful methodology for projects, but NOT thinking about design!
Why do simple and effective approaches to getting things done often become obscured by jargon? For example, way back in the last century when I worked at HP we experienced big changes in the business environment. Although layoffs are common at HP these days, back then everyone I knew believed...
Reproductive justice? Had I not had an abortion, pregnancy would have hijacked the future I’d worked hard
I am a palaeoecologist at the University of Maine and, like the nearly one in four people capable of becoming pregnant in their lifetime in the United States, I have an abortion story. Even with rates on the decline, it remains a common experience. I became pregnant in 2001 when...
Rejected and shunned by top teams in Europe, Ronaldo’s manic ego is becoming an eyesore of the beautiful game
Despite Will Ford’s willingness to piggy-back him to Saudi Arabia, Cristiano Ronaldo won’t be taking up the offer of nearly a quarter of a billion quid to spend two years in Western Asia. So what now? Ronaldo has asked to leave Manchester United but, most likely to his surprise, there...
Cristiano Ronaldo, please go to Saudi Arabia; we’re sick of the pageantry you engender and encourage
An unnamed club from Saudi Arabia has reportedly offered Ronaldo a two-year contract worth £2 million($2.5 million)-a-week. Manchester United would pocket a £25 million ($30 million) transfer fee, while the megastar’s representatives would earn a tidy £17 million ($20 million). Nearly quadrupling his wages, it must be a tempting offer;...
House of Common sins: British parliament has been synonymous with sexual scandals for centuries
When the school nurse walked into the London schoolroom in 1815, she found the Member of Parliament for Barnstaple already there. Sir Eyre Coote was distinguished by a history of public service and a surpassing fondness for flagellation. Sir Eyre had popped into the school that day to pay the...
Scrappy management: Company culture is main reason successive projects suffer similar problems because we’re too busy to include voice of the costumer
I was recently told by some smarty-pants consultant that “As long as the team makes a logical proposal to the executives, they will support their recommendation.” My retort: “Then why do people smoke?” I mean, it’s not logical to smoke. There’s plenty of data to suggest it’s bad for your...
Why United Kingdom is turning to mushroom farming in peatland to meet is Climate Change goals
In a huge industrial shed on Leckford Estate, a farm owned by the supermarket Waitrose in a beautiful part of southern England, a revolution is stirring in the world of mushroom growing. UK production of this crop relies on peat, the incredibly carbon-rich organic matter found in bogs and fens...
