Ruth Watson

Advert for a book launch event hosted by the Resolution Foundation, for Alan Manning's new book 'Why Immigration Policy is Hard.'' Alan will be joined by Stephen Bush in a discussion chaired by Ruth Curtice on Thursday 4th December, 5pm.

📢 Book launch this evening

In his latest book, @alanmanning4.bsky.social makes the case that while immigration policy will never satisfy everyone, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done much better.

Join Alan, @ruthcurtice.bsky.social & @stephenkb.bsky.social to discuss

Register👉 buff.ly/0jtepcy

A museum display case with small white clay figurines arranged in a circle: several birds and two seated dogs on grey plinths surround a slightly taller nude female figure standing on a red pedestal at the back, with a few pottery fragments and a coin laid flat in the center on a grey surface against a neutral background.

Some 1,900 years ago a child was buried with an array of terracotta figurines in the #Roman town of Arae Flaviae, #Rottweil: 2 pigeons, 2 dogs, 2 roosters, a chicken, a duck, and a female figure, commonly identified as Iuventas, the personification of youth. Rather than....🧵1/2

🏺
📷 me

A lush green woodland with moss-covered boulders, low ferns and a scatter of bluebells beneath twisting old trees. Sunlight filters softly through the canopy. Landscapes like this should be central to nature’s recovery but without proper support and clear targets, protected sites can’t deliver what they’re supposed to.

England’s most important nature sites are being failed.❌

Protected sites can and should be driving nature’s recovery.

But today’s OEP report exposes the real problem: years of weak delivery, underfunding and political drift have left them unable to do the job the law intended.

Hardline migration policies are fuelling people smuggling, report finds As leaders try to break smugglers’ business model, research suggests strategy so far has had opposite effect

It's almost like every single reputable expert who has been saying this exact thing for years was right.
Home Office recognised this fact 15 years ago. Successive governments, globally, continue to ignore it, and continue to push harmful "tougher" policies. 1/

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

The EU’s deregulation agenda risks undoing the hard work of innovative women farmers🚨

If we want resilient food systems for the future, we must empower women today - not sideline and undermine them by removing the schemes that support them.

Over 3 years, @horizoneu.bsky.social #GRASSCEILING project proved women are central to rural innovation and sustainability.

Their recommendations:
👉gender-sensitive agri-environmental schemes
👉digital inclusion and training
👉stronger representation in governance
www.grassceiling.eu/final-showca...

Enabling women to lead the way in sustainable farming can help to challenge the traditional gender divisions and empower women to reclaim their profession.

Women farmers drive sustainability, but they face big barriers 🚧🌱

Limited land ownership and access to finance
Gender bias in the agricultural policies, such as the #CAP
Underrepresentation in decision-making

💡The solution is simple, empower women, protect our future.

afropages.fr afropages.fr - Crise universitaire : Bougane Guèye accuse le régime d’abandonner la jeunesse [SeneNews]

🇸🇳 Crise universitaire : Bougane Guèye accuse le régime d’abandonner la jeunesse [SeneNews] #Afropages

I don't agree with the first sentence as we cannot begin to minimise the cruelty and misery inflicted on young girls by the sex trafficker and rapist, #JeffreyEpstein, and partners in crime, including the convicted sex trafficker #GhislaineMaxwell.

The rest? Yes.

Meta and Zuckerberg are dangerous.

I don't agree with the first sentence as we cannot begin to minimise the cruelty and misery inflicted on young girls by the sex trafficker and rapist, #JeffreyEpstein, and partners in crime, including the convicted sex trafficker #GhislaineMaxwell.

The rest? Yes.

Meta and Zuckerberg are dangerous.

Reform UK gets record £9mn donation from Christopher Harborne Nigel Farage’s party attracts far more funding than both Labour and the Conservatives

Crypto-investor who lives in Thailand gives record-breaking donation to Reform UK, to help it win power in a country he doesn't live in.

Britain's political funding laws are a charred and smoking ruin. Ducking change was a catastrophic mistake by Labour.
www.ft.com/content/db73...

Truth hurts

afropages.fr afropages.fr - Les députés plaident pour une amélioration du bien-être et de la protection des droits des femmes et des filles [Premium Times Nigeria]

🇳🇬 Les députés plaident pour une amélioration du bien-être et de la protection des droits des femmes et des filles [Premium Times Nigeria] #Afropages

But no, let’s keep watching the petrol states railroad over the COP meetings and stop fighting for sustainable change on this planet.

We are proud to welcome Free Media Movement (Sri Lanka) and Journalists Union of Malawi as full members of the #IFJ family! Stronger together ✊🏾

#IFJBari25 #WeAreInPuglia

This is the guy who gave Boris Johnson £1 million and then won a big MoD contract....

It's always the people you most expect....

From survivors to changemakers: How women are fighting digital violence in Mexico and Bolivia | UN Women – Headquarters Digital violence against women is exploding across Latin America. For women in public life—politicians, journalists, activists, human rights defenders—online abuse isn't just a nuisance. It's a weapon...

#16Days: Women in Mexico and Bolivia are turning digital violence into collective resistance. This form of abuse is a real weapon that spills into real life, affecting job opportunities, reputation & psychological well-being, among other things.

Transparency International reports year of unprecedented violence and pressure on Georgian media Transparency International Georgia reports that the year-long protest cycle, sparked by Georgian Dream’s November 28, 2024 decision to suspend the

#Georgia: Almost 400 incidents of violence, intimidation & harassment with journalists’ work have been recorded over the past year, but no perpetrators have been held accountable. Critical journalism persists in Georgia despite the hostile environment.

📢 Join SCAF next Tuesday for our final online networking session of 2025!

Details below ⬇️

#FoodStudies

7 Allegations Against Meta in Newly Unsealed Filings Court filings allege Meta tolerated sex trafficking, hid harms to teens, and prioritized growth over user safety for years.

Epstein was small potatoes compared to Meta.

Disgusting!

“You could incur 16 violations for prostitution and sexual solicitation, and upon the 17th violation, your account would be suspended,” Jayakumar reportedly testified.

SHUT DOWN YOUR META ACCOUNTS!

☠️ New GMOs: The result of last night comes down to a massive handout of our foodchain to pesticide firms like Bayer and BASF.

This is a vast #deregulation:
🚨scrapping safety standards,
🚨scrapping consumer freedom to choose
🚨creating more dependence for farmers through patents

Vaccines work.

RFK’s Anti-Vax Team Readies Its Next Moves “Their game is, let’s really destabilize trust in the vaccine, and make people really anxious about it.”

To be very clear, Kennedy's team is messing with a vaccine which has led to a 99 percent drop in the incidence of hepatitis B, which kills, early and painfully, 25 percent of the people who get it as children. lnk.thebulwark.com/3Xt957M

UK farmers lose £800m after heat and drought cause one of worst harvests on record Many now concerned about ability to make living in fast-changing climate after one of worst grain harvests recorded

THIS IS FINE

This statuette is remarkable for its synthesis of Hellenistic immediacy and Classical composure. The figure can be identified as an artisan by his dress (a short tunic, ending just above his knee) and muscular build. Particularly telling is the pair of wax tablets tucked in his belt—the equivalent of a note pad—on which he would have written or drawn with a pointed stylus. His left arm is laid across his torso, his hand gripping his right side, and his bald head is pulled down towards his right shoulder. He's missing his right arm and leg. The bronze has a deep brown patina, with rich light highlights. The portrait is imbued with great psychological power and may represent a famous, even mythological, figure. For example, he may portray the Homeric hero Epeios, who with Athena's help carved the Trojan horse. It has also been proposed that he is the legendary master craftsman Daidalos, who built the labyrinth at Knossos, or even the famous 5th century BCE Athenian sculptor Phidias, creator of the chryselephantine cult statue of Zeus at Olympia and master craftsman of the sculptures of the Parthenon on the Athenian Akropolis. Greek, Late Hellenistic, ca. mid-1st century BCE. Bronze with silver eyes. Said to have been found in the sea off the North African coast, probably at Cherchell, Algeria. Met Museum, New York (1972.11.1)

This Hellenistic bronze statuette depicts a thickly-muscled craftsman, identified by his short tunic and by the wax tablets tucked into his belt. He may represent a famous or mythological figure - Daidalos, who built the labyrinth at Knossos, or the sculptor-architect Phidias. 🏺 1/

#MetMuseum 📸 me

Vers la fin de la guerre en RD Congo? Tshisekedi et Kagame aux États-Unis pour ratifier un accord de paix Par Lorène Bienvenu avec agences Les chefs d'État de RD Congo et du Rwanda sont attendus à Washington, ce jeudi 4 décembre, pour ratifier un accord de paix en présence du président américain, Donald Trump. Depuis mardi, les combats opposent pourtant toujours le groupe armé M23, que Kigali est accusée de soutenir, à l'armée congolaise. Les chefs d'État de RD Congo et du Rwanda sont attendus à Washington, ce jeudi 4 décembre, pour ratifier un accord de paix en présence du président américain, Donald Trump. Depuis mardi, les combats opposent pourtant toujours le groupe armé M23, que Kigali est accusée de soutenir, à l'armée congolaise. Le président américain, Donald Trump, sera l'hôte de la signature de l'accord de paix entre les dirigeants de la RD Congo et du Rwanda , ce jeudi 4 décembre à Washington. Il s'agit d'une étape clé dans les relations entre les deux pays, alors que l'est de la RD Congo est en proie aux violences et prise par trois décennies de conflits armés.  La cérémonie de ce jeudi se tiendra en présence des présidents de la RD Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, et du Rwanda, Paul Kagame.  Violations des cessez-le-feu successives depuis le premier accord en juin D'intenses combats ont encore opposé le groupe armé M23 à l'armée congolaise appuyée par des milices, dans la province du Sud-Kivu, mardi 2 et mercredi 3 décembre, selon des sources locales. Le M23, groupe armé créé par des membres d'un ancien groupe rebelle soutenu par le Rwanda, combat dans l'est de la RD Congo depuis plus d'une décennie. Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. Kigali nie soutenir militairement le M23 mais affirme que sa sécurité est depuis longtemps menacée par des groupes armés, notamment les FDLR, créées par d'anciens dirigeants hutus liés au génocide rwandais de 1994 et installés depuis en RD Congo.  Les hostilités entre les deux parties ont continué malgré la signature d'un accord de paix préliminaire et d'un pacte économique négociés par les États-Unis entre les ministres des Affaires étrangères des deux pays africains, en juin dernier à la Maison Blanche. Tweet URL Les pourparlers se sont poursuivis pendant des mois après la signature, et les deux parties se sont réunies au Qatar le mois dernier pour signer un accord-cadre dont l'objectif ultime est de mettre fin au conflit. Mais le M23, qui n'a jamais reconnu officiellement ses liens avec Kigali, et les autorités de RD Congo s'accusent régulièrement de violer le cessez-le-feu qu'ils se sont engagés à respecter dans le cadre de la médiation menée par le Qatar. Tweet URL Un partenariat stratégique avec les États-Unis sur les minerais Jeudi, les deux chefs d'État seront reçus à la Maison Blanche avant une cérémonie de signature à l'Institut américain pour la paix, renommé en " Institut Donald Trump pour la Paix " par le département d'État, ce mercredi.  Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. " Pendant 35 ans, ce fut une guerre acharnée. Neuf millions de personnes ont été tuées à coups de machette. J'y ai mis fin. (...) J'ai réussi à l'arrêter et j'ai sauvé beaucoup de vies ", a déclaré Donald Trump, en août. Le conflit entre la RD Congo et le Rwanda est l'une des huit guerres qu'il prétend avoir mises fin. L'accord est composé de plusieurs volets, a expliqué la porte-parole du président de la RD Congo, Tina Salama: le volet sur la paix, un cadre d'intégration économique régionale et un partenariat stratégique avec les États-Unis pour l'exploitation des minerais, dont la RD Congo regorge. Vers un désarmement des groupes non étatiques? Il comprend aussi des dispositions sur le désengagement, le désarmement et l'intégration conditionnelle des groupes armés non étatiques, qui se fera de manière " individuelle ", a précisé la porte-parole. Au delà de sa quête pour le prix Nobel de la paix, le président américain est motivé par des intérêts économiques. Il a exprimé l'espoir que les États-Unis puissent exploiter les minerais de la RD Congo qui pourraient sinon être acheminés vers la Chine. Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. Donald Trump, prochain prix Nobel de la Paix ? Le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu a annoncé avoir présenté la nomination du président américain pour le prix Nobel de la paix. Il lui a remis la lettre qu'il a envoyée au comité Nobel, lors d’un dîner organisé à la Maison Blanche. Le milliardaire, qui n'a jamais caché son ambition d'obtenir la prestigieuse récompense, s'est plaint d'avoir été ignoré plusieurs fois par le Comité. La porte-parole du président de la RD Congo a réfuté toute notion d'échange paix contre minerais. Elle a souligné, devant la presse à Washington, que Kinshasa entendait conserver sa souveraineté sur les ressources naturelles du pays. Premier producteur mondial de cobalt, essentiel pour les batteries de véhicules électriques, la RD Congo détient aussi au moins 60% des réserves mondiales de coltan, minerai stratégique pour l'industrie électronique.

Vers la fin de la guerre en RD Congo? Tshisekedi et Kagame aux États-Unis pour ratifier un accord de paix

High levels of ‘forever chemical’ found in cereal products across Europe – study Pesticide Action Network Europe study finds average concentrations 100 times higher than in tap water

“The highest levels were found in Irish breakfast cereal, followed by Belgian wholemeal bread, then German wholemeal bread, then French baguette. It was found across a huge range of products, from spaghetti, to cheese scones and ginger bread.” 🥖

A close-up of two iron lances with gold decoration

A new discovery has revealed gold-decorated iron lances that were sacrificed at a sacred spring in modern-day Boeslunde approximately 2800 years ago.
Iron weapons with similar gold decoration from this period are unusual and without parallel in all of Northern Europe.

vestmuseum.dk/en/nyt-fund-...

Launching hundreds of thousands of satellites will threaten space research, scientists warn | CBC News We've all come to appreciate the beautiful images space telescopes provide us of galaxies, nebulas and more, but they also provide astronomers with important scientific information about our universe....

Launching hundreds of thousands of satellites will threaten space research, scientists warn

Ground-based telescopes have already been facing issues with the thousands of satellites already in orbit

www.cbc.ca/news/science...