Childcare reform: education is the responsibility of the state - care of young children should be too

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Childcare reform: education is the responsibility of the state - care of young children should be too     Parents face eye-watering costs for childcare in the UK. A part-time nursery place for a child under two sets parents in Britain back, on average, £7,134 a year. But there will still be a price for parents. Nurseries may charge for costs in addition to the government’s funded hours. And 30 hours does not nearly cover the time a parent working full-time will need care for their child. Continued here

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What Sidney Powell's Deal Could Mean for the Fulton County Case Against Trump     Sidney Powell, the attorney who used that catchphrase for her work to overturn the 2020 presidential election, pleaded guilty today to six misdemeanors in Fulton County, Georgia, as part of a sweeping racketeering case against Donald Trump and 16 others. Under the terms of the deal, Powell admitted she conspired to breach the election systems in Coffee County, Georgia. She recorded a proffer video with prosecutors that described the crimes and she agreed to testify at future cases. She also wrote an apology letter to citizens of Georgia and agreed to pay almost $9,000 in fines.The plea deal appears to be a very good one for Powell—letting her off with only misdemeanors, which can be wiped from her record as a first offender if she complies with the terms of the agreement. She was set to go on trial tomorrow, alongside the lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who is accused of designing a scheme to submit false electors on behalf of Trump. (Powell still faces defamation charges from manufacturers of voting machines, and she’s an unindicted co-conspirator in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s federal case against Trump.) Continued here

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Why do I bruise so easily? Could it be something serious?     After a bump, we can expect a bruise. But what if we find ourselves bruising without any noticeable cause? What might be behind it? Should we worry?Around 18% of adults report easy bruising. As haematologists (blood doctors), we are often asked for advice when people are worried they might bruise too easily. Continued here

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Hamas-Israel conflict: Algeria offers to host Palestine's football matches - the bigger history     There are parallels between the colonial systems in Algeria and Palestine. Both nations have been under direct military and settlement occupation. In the case of Algeria this was until independence in 1962.Algeria had a large population of European settlers who confiscated the land of the Arab and Berber population. France legitimised its occupation of Algeria on the basis that there was no such thing as an Algerian nation with a state entity before 1830. Israel’s ideology denies the existence of a Palestinian nation prior to the unilateral announcement of the birth of the state of Israel in 1948. Continued here

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Insomnia and mental disorders are linked. But exactly how is still a mystery     This article is the next in The Conversation’s six-part series on insomnia, which charts the rise of insomnia during industrialisation to sleep apps today. Read other articles in the series here.The 2004 movie The Machinist gives us a striking depiction, albeit a fictional one, of the psychological effects of chronic insomnia. Continued here

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Sydney Opera House at 50: a public appeal, a controversial build, a lavish opening - and a venue for all     It is one of the most famous buildings in the world. It has an instantly recognisable silhouette that adorns tea towels, bottle openers and souvenir sweatshirts. Miniature versions huddle in snow domes. You can build your own from Lego. Bidjigal artist and elder Esme Timbery constructed a replica in her trademark shell art. Ken Done put it on doona covers and bikinis. If you search the hashtag on Instagram, you will see over a million posts. Continued here

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Some kids with reading difficulties can also have reading anxiety - what can parents do?     Australian children are facing some big challenges. NAPLAN data shows about one in three students in years 3 to 9 are behind in reading-related skills. It is also estimated about one in seven children have poor mental health. Until recently, most people assumed these were separate problems. However, there is growing evidence difficulties with reading and mental health may be related in some children. Continued here

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What the War Means for Palestinians Inside Israel     In the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7th terrorist attack, Israel’s military has been bombing the Gaza Strip, where it has killed more than three thousand Palestinians. Tensions are also mounting in the West Bank, where several dozen Palestinians have been killed since last week. While the media’s focus has, understandably, been on the more than thirteen hundred Israeli victims of the initial attack, and on Palestinian civilians now facing siege and aggression in the occupied territories, there are two million Palestinians living inside Israel itself, making up approximately twenty per cent of the country’s population.I recently spoke by phone with Amjad Iraqi—an editor at +972 Magazine and a policy analyst at the think tank Al-Shabaka who comes from a family of Palestinian citizens of Israel—to discuss how Palestinian Israelis are reckoning with this month’s events, and what the war may mean for their future. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we also discussed the distinct forms of discrimination that Palestinian citizens of Israel face, how the relationship among different Palestinian communities has changed over time, and what Hamas’s tactics mean for any future state that recognizes equal rights for its inhabitants. Continued here

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Collectively, we spend only 45 minutes daily on the activities that produce the most pollution     Why do we feel stuck in our efforts to solve the great sustainability crises of the 21st century? Between the dire need to successfully mitigate climate change while making progress on human-focused Sustainable Development Goals, the challenges of the Anthropocene — the era in which we now live — can appear insurmountable. Yet, despite the central role of human actions in creating sustainability solutions, there has been no high-level, comprehensive depiction of what the global human population is doing in precise, numerical terms. Continued here

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New 'healing' prison in Ireland points to long history of progressive penal reform     This expansion was desperately needed. The former wing was at 164% capacity, with women reportedly sleeping on mattresses on the floor of what were already inadequate conditions of a dilapidated 19th-century building. The new build now offers space for 50 women, an increase in capacity of 78%. It also eschews the dehumanising cliches of the traditional prison environment. Continued here

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Rancid food smells and tastes gross - AI tools may help scientists prevent that spoilage     This project was funded by a grant from the South Carolina Department of Agriculture ACRE Competitive Grant Program. Have you ever bitten into a nut or a piece of chocolate, expecting a smooth, rich taste, only to encounter an unexpected and unpleasant chalky or sour flavor? That taste is rancidity in action, and it affects pretty much every product in your pantry. Now artificial intelligence can help scientists tackle this issue more precisely and efficiently. Continued here

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Health care workers gain 21% wage increase in pending agreement with Kaiser Permanente after historic strike     The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions reached a tentative agreement with its employer on a new four-year contract on Oct. 13, 2023. They agreed following the largest documented strike of U.S. health care workers on record, which involved more than 75,000 workers in several states and the District of Columbia. A majority of the unions’ 85,000 members will need to approve the deal for it to become final. The voting began on Oct. 18.The contract’s terms will make Kaiser “able to deliver on our mission of providing high quality, affordable and accessible health care to our members,” Kaiser Vice President and Chief of Human Resources Greg Holmes said. Continued here

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Namibia and Angola's remote Ovahimba mountains reveal a haven for unique plants - new survey     The Kaokoveld region, covering north-western Namibia and south-western Angola, is one of the remotest areas in southern Africa. Although it’s extremely dry, it is a centre of species endemism: many species occur only there and nowhere else on earth. New species continue to be found, especially in the Ovahimba mountain range, which runs parallel to the cold Atlantic ocean and is separated from it by the gravel plains and dunes of the northern Namib Desert. Continued here

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We traced a powerful radio signal to the most distant source yet - a galaxy billions of lightyears away     Every day and night, hundreds of thousands of intense, brief flashes of radiation suddenly flicker on and then off all across the sky. These “fast radio bursts” are invisible to the naked eye, but to a radio telescope many almost outshine everything else in the sky for a few thousandths of a second. Since the first such burst was spotted in 2006, we have found that nearly all of them come from distant galaxies. Most bursts pass unnoticed, occurring outside the field of view of radio telescopes, and never occur again. Continued here

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Can Israel and Hamas be held to account for alleged crimes against civilians?     International humanitarian law – the law of armed conflict – aims to constrain how wars are fought. It is designed to protect noncombatants and limit the means of warfare. As each hour brings news of further horror in the Israel-Hamas conflict, what role should international law be playing? And does it actually have any capacity to constrain the behaviour of the combatants? Continued here

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How to Unlock Fast Travel ASAP, No Metro Card Needed     In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, New York is bigger and more alive than in the first two games, adding fully explorable Queens and Brooklyn. This means the size of the world is nearly twice that of the other entries, and while you have plenty of new traversal options, you might want to use fast travel for moments when you just don’t feel like taking the scenic route. Spider-Man 2’s fast travel is truly impressive, letting you move anywhere across the city in seconds, but unfortunately, you’ll need to put in a bit of work before you’re able to use it. Here’s how to unlock fast travel. Each district has its own completion gauge, meaning you’ll need to unlock fast travel for each area. Continued here

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How children's secure attachment sets the stage for positive well-being     It also shows up in popular stories about both parenting and romance which may overgeneralize the key concepts of attachment as related to children’s development. As developmental and clinical psychologists specializing in attachment theory, we would like to provide accurate information for parents and caregivers on what secure attachment is, and how parents can promote it. Continued here

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The Devastation of Be'eri     At 6:31 A.M. on Saturday, October 7th, Gal Cohen's morning run was interrupted by a flurry of rockets. Cohen, who lived in Kibbutz Be'eri, barely three miles from Israel's border with Gaza, was used to the projectiles, and to the sound of their midair interceptions by Israel's missile-defense system. But this barrage was unusually loud and intense. His dog, running beside him, went wild. Cohen, who is fifty-eight, bald, and soft-spoken, returned home and went to pick up his daughter—who also lived in the kibbutz and who, his wife had told him, was frantic. On the way over, Cohen spotted two men on a motorcycle, carrying rifles. They wore camouflage uniforms and "those green Hamas bandannas," Cohen told me this week. Ducking his head out of view, he spoke to the kibbutz's chief security officer, Arik Kraunik, by phone to report what he'd seen.After talking to Cohen, Kraunik drove toward the kibbutz's front gate to assess the situation. Armed with a rifle and a pistol, Kraunik managed to kill seven armed men, according to his son, but while he called for backup more militants arrived and fatally shot him. At 7:11, a group of armed men ran through the front gate, which had swung open. Other gunmen soon followed on motorbikes. Continued here

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I once lived on Kibbutz Re'im: Before and after Israeli airstrikes, daily life in Gaza is brutal     Many are glued to the news and social media following the deadly Hamas attacks in Israel, and Israel’s non-stop bombing in the last week of the 2.3 million people living in the Gaza Strip.Photos comparing today’s rubble and devastation to what Gaza looked like just two weeks ago illustrate the immense destruction occurring in one of the densest areas on Earth. Continued here

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How corporate landlords are eroding affordable housing -- and prioritizing profits over human rights     One factor driving the housing crisis across the country is a shift away from publicly built housing toward large corporate-owned buildings where, as today’s guest Prof. Nemoy Lewis puts it, “housing is treated as a commodity, not a human right.”For many people living in Canada, housing has emerged as one of the most challenging issues. This is especially true in our largest cities, where financial stress plagues many households. Continued here

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Friday essay: how women writers helped me find my voice after divorce     When my 25-year marriage broke down in 2017, I did what I always do in my life, especially in times of crisis. I turned to books. Specifically, to books by women. Many, but not all of them, were in middle age, writing about their lives post-husbands – often post-intensive mothering too. They’d arrived at an unmarked place. There were no literary or narrative models to follow, in their lives or in their art. So they were making them up as they went. Continued here

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As Albanese heads to Washington, what can he hope to bring home?     Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is due in Washington next week. He will be the fourth of US President Joe Biden’s international guests treated to the pomp and ceremony of an official state visit to the United States.US state visits feature mostly ceremonial activities such as an exchange of symbolic gifts, a star-studded state dinner and a 21-gun salute. These are designed to honour the heads of state and the strength of friendship between the United States and its guest country. Continued here

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Gaza conflict: Biden's show of support for Israel is both personal and geopolitical     Before the recent Hamas attack on Israel, the country’s relations with US looked frayed. The right-wing coalition government of Binyamin Netanyahu, which includes members of several far-right parties, had unleashed domestic upheaval by trying to weaken the country’s judiciary. The US president, Joe Biden, warned Netanyahu several times not to rush ahead with his plans, calling for Israel’s government to seek consensus. Biden said repeatedly that Netanyahu would not be invited to the White House “in the near term”. A rather tepid meeting subsequently took place on the margins of the United Nations annual meeting, but it was marked by the lack of warmth between the two leaders. Continued here

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Four environmental red flags to watch out for when buying your new home     Have you ever contemplated purchasing an environmentally friendly home but found yourself unsure of where to begin? I can relate if so, as I was in your shoes about a year ago when I set out to purchase my first home.Amid the escalating climate crisis, there has been a noticeable shift towards the construction of energy-efficient homes. The UK government aims to make all new homes highly energy efficient with low-carbon heating from 2035. Continued here

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A Memoir of My Former Self: Hilary Mantel's final book is a reminder of the many stories she still had to tell     In A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing, Hilary Mantel writes: “There is no failed writing, only work pending.” She’s referring to the 97 notebooks that she kept in a wooden box. Mantel promised: “There is nothing I won’t say, only what I haven’t said yet.” These words were written in 2016, just after her epic novel of the French Revolution, A Place of Greater Safety, was published. After that, Mantel released the third and final book in her Wolf Hall trilogy, a series that earned her two Booker prizes. Continued here

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The West's double standards are once again on display in Israel and Palestine     American president Joe Biden is among the latest western politicians to land in Tel Aviv in a show of support to Israel. As Israel’s primary backer, the United States has sent two aircraft carriers to the region and indicated it could deploy 2,000 American troops to Israel. Continued here

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Football and big money: what some professional players in Ghana told us about handling their finances     The unfortunate reality, however, is that the retirement experiences of many former professional footballers have been awful. Within the sports media landscape, there have been reported cases of once-wealthy footballers who have gone bankrupt soon upon retirement. Notable examples in Ghana are former Black Stars players Sammy Adjei, John Naawu, Joe Odoi, Prince Addu Poku and Amusa Gbadamoshie. According to some academics this unfortunate situation stems in part from the fact that the danger of falling into a professional void is high. This is because, like most sports, football confers skills that are not easily transferable to non-sporting occupations. The availability of jobs in football is also very limited. So most footballers earn a very high income during their active career period and face a high degree of income uncertainty upon retirement. Continued here

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Dressing up for Halloween? You could be in breach of copyright law, but it's unlikely you'll be sued     While it’s traditionally seen as an American holiday, more Australians are preparing to celebrate it this year.Many jump at the chance to dress up as their favourite fictional character, but have you ever stopped to wonder whether you could be breaking copyright law? Continued here

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"Beckham" Shows Us How David and Victoria Beckham See Themselves     "They were the new Charles and Diana, in some ways," Gary Neville, the former Manchester United player, says in the first episode of "Beckham," a new, four-part documentary on Netflix. They, of course, are David Beckham, Neville's friend and onetime teammate, and Beckham's then girlfriend, Victoria Adams, a.k.a. Posh Spice. The period about which Neville is speaking is 1997—the height of the fame of the Spice Girls, the record-breaking girl group of which Adams was one sylphlike fifth, and the beginning of the ascendancy of Beckham as considerably more than just a very good footballer. (I, like the documentary, will stick with the globally preferred nomenclature of the game.)Posh and Becks, as the tabloids called them—nice short words, great big headlines—were a celebrity match made in heaven. They were also a match made in David's fantasies, it turns out, even before the couple's first encounter. He tells the documentary's director, Fisher Stevens, about seeing a Spice Girls video while he and Neville were idly watching TV one day. "I turned round to Gary, I went, 'See that one there? I'm gonna marry that one,' " David remembers. (The documentary suggests—and forensic YouTubing confirms—that the video in question was for "Wannabe," the group's multiplatinum début single, from 1996. It includes the characterization of Victoria as "Easy V. who doesn't come for free / She's a real lady," and shows her sporting her signature look of disdain.) Neville tells Stevens, "I suppose that most blokes have done that in their life. Looked at a television set and said, 'I like her.' They don't fucking end up with them." But David was already attracting attention as a gifted, and good-looking, young player, and destiny took its course when Victoria attended a Manchester United game—an outing likely undertaken in her capacity as a Spice Girl rather than a civilian, because, as she firmly informs Stevens in one of numerous interviews he conducted with both of the Beckhams over two years, "I am not into football. At all. I wasn't into football then, I am not into football now." Continued here

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Everything You Need to Know About 'Spider-Man 2's Parts and Tokens     Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, is packed with side content that’s equal parts emotional and engaging and practical. These tasks let you earn tokens, which you can spend to unlock new costumes, upgrade your gadgets, and enhance your suit technology.Plus, they also offer loads of experience points and rewards. Here are the different tokens you can find in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, how to earn them, and how to spend them. Continued here