Reading

Pay no attention to those pundits behind the curtain Attempts on the right to vilify teachers and public schools have long infuriated me. As I’ve indicated time and again, it’s about the money. An investor class bent on privatizing public schools wants to turn those not-for-profit abominations into another rent-seeking extension of Wall Street. Teachers and school adminstrators stand between them and their money. Christian right parents are their useful idiots. Chalkbeat’s Matt Barnum cites data that refutes the notion that parents of school-age children are unhappy with their kids’ public education: “Contrary to elite or policy wonk opinion, which often is critical of schools, there have been years and years worth of data saying that families in general like their local public schools,” said Andy Smarick, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank.  “It would be natural to assume that in 2020, 2021, parental support for schools would have cratered,” said Smarick. “But it didn’t.” You might not know that from that narrative advanced in the press.

I’m delighted to share with you some exciting – if somewhat unseasonal – news … I have a new poetry collection coming out in October, perfectly timed for Christmas: which is a good job really because it’s a book of Christmas poems. It’s called ‘And So This is Christmas’ and is now available to preorder.…

The Co-Leader of the Green Party sets out the importance of maintaining a political consensus on climate change

Renowned weapons expert Dan Kaszeta, who was blacklisted by the Government over his tweets, explores why we have not heard the last of the scandal of the Government 'cancelling' expert speakers

Splinter Cell Wins the Scribe Award! I’m delighted to say that, at San Diego Comic Con, Sebastian Baczkiewicz and I won a Scribe Award in the audio drama category for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Firewall! The Scribes are given out annually by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. You can see the full list […]

Miko Peled on how long-running racial tensions, social divisions and the systemic oppression of Palestanians have all culminated in the current crisis in Israel.

The post Miko Peled: Israel Was Never a Cohesive Democracy, and Its Disintegration Was Inevitable appeared first on MintPress News.

Demographic change is more than race and ethnicity A flurry of articles and polling herald the arrival of Gen Z voters: progressive, more engaged than their predecessor “Gens” and, critically, more prone to show up and vote. You’re either at the table or on the menu, the saying goes. Younger voters are pulling up chairs. Youth turnout jumped dramatically in 2018 and again in 2020, spawning headlines. Critically, turnout among the 18-29 set in 2022 helped stave off the overhyped red wave that instead rippled. “Researchers say the 2022 election had the second highest voter turnout among voters under 30 in at least the past three decades,” NPR reported. The record was set in 2018 when 31% of those eligible cast ballots. Not exactly “whopping,” but we’ll take it. The trends are moving in the right direction. Harvard Youth Poll director John Della Volpe points to “the big four” issues driving their engagement: climate change, gun violence, economic inequality and LGBTQ+ rights drive their engagement.

A conversation with issue 50 cover artist James Yang

The post Why Scientists Should Embrace Their Inner Child appeared first on Nautilus.

“You can still circle back and touch base. But the vernacular of work life for many has changed just as much as their work has.” — The New York Times

“Goat teats and summer coats”

I propose we start using this phrase to mean really drilling down and getting granular. Example: “We’ve got the thirty-thousand-foot view, but let’s get down to goat teats and summer coats.”

Fifty points each for every mention.

Why was the governing party so shy in Uxbridge?

A Dutch filmmaker’s quest to document and explain the fleeting ‘green flashes’ known to illuminate his native horizons

- by Aeon Video

Watch at Aeon

The Israeli Parliament’s vote to curb the Supreme Court paves the way for settlers’ expansion into the West Bank.

The post Protests in Israel: The Right’s Further Consolidation of Power appeared first on The Intercept.

Does the future ‘you’ seem like a stranger? Getting to know them better will help you to make healthier, wiser decisions

- by Shayla Love

Read at Psyche

When journalists write articles about whether countries are free or not, as with this piece in the Financial Times by Martin Wolf about India, they often rely on the ratings from Freedom House. Reading Wolf’s article, my interest was piqued concerning what Freedom House says about the post-Brexit UK, and specifically for the freedoms that […]

I’ve written for UnHerd about the right-populist wave sweeping over Europe. Liberal politicians and pundits are understandably freaking out. Conservatives, on the other hand, can barely contain their excitement. But — “anti-wokeness” aside — what alternative do these parties offer? As it turns out, on a number of issues, they are peculiarly aligned with the mainstream. In terms …

Continue reading

These days the news is filled with stories about the “extreme”, “record-breaking” and “deadly” heat waves sweeping across Asia, the US and, most notably, Europe (and especially Italy). Rome — my hometown — has been redubbed the “infernal city”. I appreciate the global concern for us poor Romans but I can assure everyone that we’re …

Continue reading