Category: The Conversation – UK

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tim Holmes, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Policing, Bangor University

In the recent king’s speech, King Charles outlined a series of UK government proposals, including plans to move forward with digital identity through the digital access to services bill.

The government says the scheme is designed to modernise access to public services, allowing people to verify who they are more quickly and securely. The proposal is voluntary. But after last September’s politically bruising debate over compulsory national ID cards, digital identity may once again become a contentious issue.

Digital IDs are electronic forms of identification used instead of paper documents. They are typically accessed through smartphones or smartcards. Finland became the first country to introduce a national electronic identity card in 1999, and over 130 countries have since rolled out some form of digital ID system.

The UK has revisited the idea repeatedly. In 2006, the Labour party’s attempt to introduce an identity card scheme collapsed amid concerns over cost, privacy and state surveillance. Despite the political failure of that project, the UK has steadily moved towards a digital-first approach in everyday life.

That’s something that is often overlooked in debates around identity systems. Outside a few areas such as international travel and right-to-work checks, online identification has become increasingly common. People already use apps to access banking, healthcare, transport and government services.

The pandemic also accelerated expectations around digital access to services. People increasingly expect interactions with government to mirror the convenience offered by organisations like banks and streaming platforms. They want services to be accessible on demand, on the device of their choosing, with updates and progress tracking built in.

Government figures suggest 93% of UK adults now own a smartphone. A recent report found that 90% of adults under 65 use smartphones daily. Even among over-65s, usage stood at 76%, suggesting digital technology is now embedded across generations.

The proposed digital ID scheme would store basic identifying information, like name, date of birth, nationality or residency status and a photo. This would be accessible through a smartphone.

With the introduction of GOV.UK wallet (which will let people save documents like a driving licence, veteran’s card or certain qualifications to their phone) in 2027, it’s possible that convenience could play a role in public acceptance of the idea.

Drawbacks

Some of the objections that haunted earlier ID card proposals have not disappeared, however. Critics of compulsory digital IDs have warned about threats to civil liberties and the potential expansion of state monitoring. While the new scheme is voluntary, campaigners argue that voluntary systems can gradually become unavoidable in practice.

The Digital Poverty Alliance charity has warned that digital ID could deepen existing inequality if access to services increasingly depends on smartphones or online verification. Elizabeth Anderson, the organisation’s chief executive, has argued that when public and private services begin relying on digital ID systems, offline alternatives can become “slow, complex, or difficult to access”.

That concern reflects a broader issue of digital inequality in the UK. Around 2.4 million households can’t afford their mobile phone contracts, including having to cancel or change services and missing payments. Also, more than 1.5 million people don’t own a smartphone. So, as digital ID becomes more widely adopted, the pressure to improve digital access and literacy will only grow.

The politics surrounding identity cards have also changed. Public concern over illegal immigration and small boat crossings has increased pressure on the government to appear decisive. In September 2025, Keir Starmer’s proposal for compulsory ID cards was presented by supporters as a tougher approach to immigration control.

But the backlash was swift. Critics questioned whether compulsory ID cards would reduce illegal immigration, and warned about issues with privacy, surveillance and government overreach. A petition opposing the proposal attracted millions of signatures, which may have contributed to the government’s eventual retreat towards the voluntary model now being proposed.

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Read more:
Mandatory digital ID cards abandoned: where did the government go wrong?

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That may prove politically safer. But the debate is unlikely to disappear.

Supporters see digital ID as a practical modernisation of public services and identity verification. Critics fear a gradual drift towards a society in which proving who you are becomes a routine requirement for everyday life.

So, the central issues remain unresolved. With Starmer already facing political pressure on several fronts, digital identity may become yet another divisive battleground.

Tim Holmes 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.

– ref. Why digital IDs are back on the UK government’s agenda – https://theconversation.com/why-digital-ids-are-back-on-the-uk-governments-agenda-283022

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Helen Vassallo, Associate Professor of French and Translation, University of Exeter

Cathedrals is the latest work by Argentinian crime writer Claudia Piñeiro to be published in English by Charco Press, in a translation by Frances Riddle. The crime is the murder and dismemberment of 17-year-old Ana Sardá 30 years ago. Yet, as ever in Piñeiro’s work, nothing is quite what it seems.

Each section is written from the perspective of a key character, and the truth emerges gradually as the stories intertwine. The first section is narrated by Lía, Ana’s middle sister. Cathedrals opens with Lía’s loss of faith, confirmed 30 years earlier at Ana’s funeral. This sets up a core premise of the book: how can a barbaric act that takes a human life ever be rationalised as “God’s will”?

Lía left Argentina, unable to remain with a family who, apart from her father Alfredo, were all content to move on when the local police closed the unsolved murder investigation. Now running a bookstore in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Lía corresponds with Alfredo via a postal locker, refusing to hear any news of the rest of her family.

This silence is shattered when the eldest sister, Carmen, and her husband Julián turn up in Lía’s bookshop. Their son Mateo has disappeared, and they believe Lía can help them find him. In the course of the conversation, Lía learns that Alfredo is dead.

Narration of the next section falls to Mateo, who has grown up with the family scar of the murder and dismemberment of an aunt he never knew. Despite Carmen and Julián’s dogmatic efforts to impose a “normal” family life on him, Mateo is defined by the inherited trauma of Ana’s death. Urged on by his grandfather Alfredo, Mateo embarks on a pilgrimage that will be Alfredo’s last gift to his family.

The distinctive voices of each narrator represent one of the great successes of Riddle’s translation. She deftly navigates a significant shift in style in the third section: this is narrated by Marcela, Ana’s best friend, a retrograde amnesiac. Condemned to create no new memories after a statue fell on her head the day of Ana’s death, Marcela’s section is cyclical, returning again and again to her final memory: Ana dying in her arms. Yet everyone tells Marcela that this moment, in which her memory is forever suspended, cannot truly have happened.

Next we hear from Elmer, the now-retired police officer assigned to Ana’s murder case, whose investigations were shut down by a line manager keen to move on from a community scandal. Narration of the final chapters then returns to Ana’s family: first her weak brother-in-law Julián, and then Carmen, a sister blinded by unquestioning religious faith. In a moving twist, the last words fall to Alfredo.

Cathedrals is crime fiction with social comment. The characters’ experiences are connected to the sociopolitical context in Argentina: the dictatorship is still fresh, and society has not broken free of its restrictions. Poverty is rising, and religious doctrine is a powerful means of keeping women in set roles, because in the Bible “[n]o one cares about heroines, they care about mothers and wives.” Those who think for themselves or break with expectations are ostracised.

Piñeiro takes on the institution of the Catholic church, describing its teachings as “stories that do not stand up to the credibility we demand from any minor work of fiction”, and exposing the hypocrisy of those who preach God’s word as a way of hiding from their own sins. As the truth is revealed little by little, the most aberrant crime is reasoned away as part of “God’s plan”. How easy it is to hide a crime in a society that normalises gender violence, and how cruel it is to twist faith into some kind of moral immunity.

With her characteristic edge-of-the-seat storytelling, Piñeiro exposes not only the monsters we live among, but also the society that produces them. Yet she also tells a personal tale of loss, scars and kinship that shows humanity in the darkest of human experiences, and the dignity we can afford others by acknowledging our own failings.

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something, The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

Helen Vassallo receives funding from the British Academy. She has previously collaborated with Charco Press on La Lucha: Latin American Feminism Today.

– ref. Cathedrals by Claudia Piñeiro is a gripping Argentinian crime story about gender violence and the weaponisation of religion – https://theconversation.com/cathedrals-by-claudia-pineiro-is-a-gripping-argentinian-crime-story-about-gender-violence-and-the-weaponisation-of-religion-283183

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ahmed Elbediwy, Senior Lecturer in Cancer Biology & Clinical Biochemistry, Kingston University

As more people look for ways to stay younger for longer, the supplement industry has moved beyond creams and cosmetic fixes to something more ambitious: products that claim to slow ageing by acting on cellular processes.

Among the most heavily marketed compounds are NAD+, NMN and resveratrol, often described as supporting cellular repair, energy production and healthy ageing. But what do they actually do, where are they being used, and how strong is the evidence?

To make sense of the claims, it helps to separate three things: the molecule NAD+, the compounds sold to raise it, and the products, such as supplements, creams and serums, that contain them.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD+, is a coenzyme found in all living cells. A coenzyme is a helper molecule that allows enzymes to carry out chemical reactions in the body. NAD+ plays an essential role in energy metabolism, DNA repair, inflammation and the activity of a family of proteins involved in cellular stress responses.

NAD+ levels tend to decline with age, although this decline is complex and may vary between tissues. Lower NAD+ availability has been linked to reduced mitochondrial function, meaning reduced activity in the cell structures that help produce energy. This is one of the biological changes associated with ageing.

NAD+ in creams and serums

NAD+ has begun appearing in skincare creams and serums, but the evidence is even less developed here than it is for supplements.

While NAD+ is important for skin-cell energy and repair, it remains unclear whether topical NAD+ in ordinary creams can penetrate the skin in sufficient amounts to produce meaningful anti-ageing effects.

Better-established ingredients, such as sunscreen, retinoids and niacinamide, currently have much stronger evidence for improving visible signs of skin ageing.

NAD+ precursors as supplements

Because NAD+ itself is not thought to be absorbed efficiently when swallowed, much research has focused on NAD+ precursors. Precursors are compounds the body can convert into another substance. In this case, they are compounds the body can convert into NAD+. Two of the best known are nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) and nicotinamide riboside (NR).

In animal studies, NAD+ precursors have produced promising results. Older mice given these compounds have shown improvements in energy metabolism, insulin sensitivity and aspects of physical function. Some studies have also reported improvements in healthspan and lifespan-related measures in animal models, although these findings vary by model and do not translate neatly into humans. These results have helped drive enormous commercial interest, but turning promising mouse studies into meaningful benefits for people has proved far harder.

Human clinical trials suggest that NMN and NR can raise NAD+ levels, or related markers of NAD+ activity, in blood and tissues. However, the strongest evidence is for changes in blood, while evidence for meaningful effects in specific tissues is still limited.

Some small studies have reported possible benefits for metabolic health, including insulin sensitivity in specific groups. Others have explored potential effects on muscle mass, but recent reviews have not found convincing evidence that NMN or NR preserve muscle mass or function in older adults.

When researchers look at outcomes that matter more directly to everyday ageing, such as strength, cognition, frailty or biological age, the picture is much less clear. Biological age is a contested estimate of how old the body appears at a cellular or molecular level. One major problem is that ageing unfolds over a long period, while most supplement trials last only weeks or months.

Resveratrol

Resveratrol is another compound often promoted for anti-ageing, but it is different from NMN and NR. It is not an NAD+ precursor. It belongs to a group of natural plant chemicals called polyphenols and is found in red grapes, berries and peanuts.

In laboratory and animal studies, resveratrol has been associated with lower levels of inflammation and improved mitochondrial function, meaning better activity in the parts of cells that help produce energy.

The difficulty is that resveratrol has poor oral bioavailability. This means much of what is swallowed is broken down or modified before it can reach tissues in the form and concentration used in laboratory experiments. This creates a large gap between what resveratrol can do in cells in a dish and what a supplement is likely to do in the human body. So far, human trials have not shown convincing evidence that resveratrol slows ageing, and findings on cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory benefits remain mixed.

Resveratrol may interact with some medications, especially anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs, often described as blood-thinning medicines. High doses can also cause side effects such as gastrointestinal symptoms. Anyone taking regular medication, managing a chronic condition, pregnant or breastfeeding should seek medical advice before taking high-dose supplements.

So, are NAD+, NMN and resveratrol the elixir of youth? No. The key distinction is between biological plausibility and proven benefit. These compounds are not biologically implausible: they act on real pathways involved in energy production, stress responses and cellular maintenance. But affecting a pathway is not the same as slowing ageing in a person.

In humans, the evidence so far suggests possible benefits in limited contexts, but major questions remain about long-term safety, optimum doses and who is most likely to benefit. The science is plausible, but the marketing often turns “this affects a process associated with ageing” into “this supplement will keep you young”.

For now, the best-supported ways to support healthy ageing remain far less glamorous: regular exercise, good sleep, a balanced diet, avoiding smoking, limiting alcohol and managing long-term health conditions. Supplements may eventually prove useful, but at present, the evidence for staying younger for longer is much stronger for everyday habits than for anti-ageing products.

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.

– ref. Can supplements containing NMN, NAD+ and resveratrol really slow ageing? Here’s what the evidence says – https://theconversation.com/can-supplements-containing-nmn-nad-and-resveratrol-really-slow-ageing-heres-what-the-evidence-says-282524

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Chris Doyle, Lecturer in Ancient and Medieval History, University of Galway

Who owns a swarm of bees? And what happens when they stray onto a neighbour’s land?

In early medieval Ireland, such questions were addressed by a remarkable set of laws known as the Bechbretha, which set out the rights and responsibilities associated with beekeeping. Also known as bee-judgments, these laws formed part of the wider medieval Irish legal system, Brehon law (known in Old Irish as fénechas or customary law).

Brehon law espoused restorative rather than criminal justice and was chiefly concerned with the type of compensation to be paid for crimes committed. Most of these laws were written down in the 7th and 8th centuries, but they probably preserve much older traditions that had previously been passed down orally.

Early medieval Irish society was hierarchical. In legal cases, the amount of compensation owed or received depended entirely on a person’s social rank, with payments varying according to their status.

The Bechbretha provided a legal guide for lawyers dealing with cases involving bee trespass (where a neighbour’s bees came onto another’s land and supposedly stole nectar from flowers and plants), injuries or death caused by bees, beehive theft and the compensation owed in each situation.

In medieval Ireland, bees were given legal status because they were classified as domestic livestock. Like cattle, horses, pigs, poultry and sheep, they were legally protected because of their considerable value. Beekeeping produced a wide range of goods, including honey for food and sweetening, as well as mead and beer, beeswax for candles, sealants and writing tablets, and other products used in medicine, polishing, lubrication, skincare and waterproofing.

The Bechbretha also had another purpose – maintaining good relations within local communities. According to the Bechbretha and another legal text, the 8th-century Bretha Comhaithchesa, Judgements on Neighbourhood, a mutual agreement among the farming community ensured compensation would be paid if and when animal trespass, theft or injury occurred. A certain level of trust between neighbours was required for this process to work.

That said, it is one thing to show where a neighbour’s large domestic animal has trespassed or caused damage. It is something else to prove that neighbouring bees had rampaged through your flowers, stealing nectar before buzzing away with their ill-gotten gains.

One suggestion the Bechbretha makes is to dust flour over bees, follow them to source and identify the culprits. Because honeybees tend to return repeatedly to the same nectar sources, tracking and marking them with white flour – which scatters onto the ground as they fly, leaving a visible flight path – can be effective. The laws also state that the owner of stray bees has three years to collect their honey, but by the fourth year must surrender the first swarm from that hive to the wronged party.

The Bechbretha also dealt with questions about ownership of swarms which settled and built new hives on either private or common land. The beekeeper who found the new hive was entitled to a third of the honey for three years but after that time elapsed, the landowner on which the swarm settled became its owner. Where a swarm was discovered in woodland, the finder was entitled to (almost) everything. The local church and patriarch of the finder’s kin-group were both entitled to a share.

Where hives were stolen or illegally moved and where perpetrators got stung or died from being stung, beekeepers were not held responsible. Where bees stung people without provocation, compensation was due, though if the victim killed the bee(s), their death was deemed recompense enough. Generally, for valid situations where someone was stung, killed or maimed, hives were given over in payment.

Theft of beehives carried hefty penalties, dependent on their location. The closer a hive was to a homestead, particularly a high-status one, the larger the compensation. This was usually in the form of cattle, the main currency used in pre-coinage Ireland. Theft of hives from monasteries also carried imposing fines.

That there were a set of early medieval Irish laws solely for bees reveals the high regard with which these little creatures were held. Restitution through beehives and bee produce helped the proliferation of beekeeping throughout the community. In pre-industrial, early medieval Ireland, where society’s survival depended so much upon the climate, bees were a pivotal part of the agricultural system, as they are today.

At the close of the tenth century, writers of Irish historical records documented two instances of bech-dibad – bee mortality – which resulted in mass famine and death among the human population. The fact that these disasters were recorded is significant in that it suggests an awareness about what happens if the bees disappear.

Today, bee colonies around the world face multiple threats – from habitat loss, climate change, toxic chemicals and deadly invasive parasites. The Bechbretha shows that if the will is there and communities are involved and feel invested, protecting our bees is possible.

Chris Doyle 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.

– ref. Why early medieval Ireland had laws for bees – https://theconversation.com/why-early-medieval-ireland-had-laws-for-bees-283168

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Freddie Daley, Research Associate, Centre for Global Political Economy, University of Sussex

The world’s major oil and gas companies claim they are leading the energy transition. They spend billions on PR to brand themselves as part of the solution. The data we’ve reviewed tells a different story.

Where a rapid transition to renewables is taking place, incumbent fossil fuel firms have almost nothing to do with it. Analysis by one of us shows that the largest 250 oil and gas companies only own 1.42% of global renewable energy, and just 0.01% of the energy they extract comes from renewable sources.

For decades, many Indigenous peoples and environmental activists have accused the fossil fuel industry of offering “false solutions”. These are projects that amplify the industry’s green credentials while leaving its core business model untouched. Our research supports their case.

We argue that fossil fuel companies’ deployment of renewable energy, biofuels, carbon capture and storage (CCS), green hydrogen and carbon offsetting isn’t designed to oppose decarbonisation, but to manage the conversation around renewables. False solutions signal compliance while helping to mute calls for a systemic transformation.

Mapping the delay

Drawing on the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice, the world’s largest environmental conflict database based at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, we mapped and analysed 48 projects run by fossil fuel firms. These ranged from biofuels to CCS and forest restoration schemes, as well as some renewable energy projects that are owned and used by these firms.

Crucially, we found that these were rarely displacing fossil fuels. Instead, they justify further use of oil, gas or coal.

For instance, CCS facilities are often linked to “enhanced oil recovery”. That involves CO₂ captured from a power plant or factory being injected into wells to squeeze out more fossil fuels from underground reservoirs – an approach that actually extends the lifespan of oil fields. The industry’s own documents back this up: the Global CCS Institute’s 2025 status report lists 77 commercially facilities in operation around the world. Of these, it notes 33 were developed to enhance oil recovery.

Likewise, “clean hydrogen” is often used to greenwash projects that are actually built on continued gas production. Even renewables can become false solutions. We found solar and wind farms built specifically to power refineries and oil and gas drilling. These projects don’t decarbonise the grid, they simply make it easier and cheaper to extract fossil fuels.

New tech, old injustices

False solutions do more than lock in fossil fuel dependence. Across the 48 cases there were examples of land conflicts. Carbon offset schemes often involve high emitters paying to protect or restore a forest or other ecosystem, to “make up” for their emissions. But in practice, they can lead to the enclosure of previously common land and the loss of communal or Indigenous rights. Biofuel plantations can displace smallholders, replacing local food systems with industrial-scale farms.

Indigenous and traditional communities are disproportionately affected by false solutions. Many projects are sited on ancestral or sacred land without meaningful consultation or consent.

Resistance to these projects is often framed by the fossil fuel industry and its supporters as hostility to climate action or a form of nimbyism. But our data suggests that, in many cases, these communities are opposed to projects that perpetuate the fossil fuel economy.

We also found evidence of governments channelling public subsidies to fund many of these projects. Such cases amount to a direct cash transfer from taxpayers to private companies for promises that deliver minimal emissions reductions.

They are, therefore, in effect helping to delay the end of the fossil fuel era.
Yet these projects have enabled politicians to claim they are climate leaders without having to confront a powerful industry.

After examining these 48 conflicts, one lesson becomes unmistakable: false solutions are not experimental missteps. They are in effect helping to delay the end of the fossil fuel era.

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.

– ref. We reviewed 48 ‘low carbon’ projects and found they were becoming part of the fossil fuel problem – https://theconversation.com/we-reviewed-48-low-carbon-projects-and-found-they-were-becoming-part-of-the-fossil-fuel-problem-271906

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Adi Imsirovic, Lecturer in Energy Systems, University of Oxford

One of the most striking features of the Iran war has been the resilience of the global oil market. Despite the disruption of flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil transit chokepoint, prices have generally hovered around US$100 (£75) per barrel – a lower level than many observers had expected.

A key reason for this resilience is the growing importance of oil production in the Americas. Even before the war, the International Energy Agency predicted that virtually all global oil demand growth in 2026 could be met by rising supply from North and South American countries such as the US, Canada, Brazil, Guyana and Argentina.

At that time, the Opec oil producers’ cartel was also preparing to increase output, raising expectations of a period of oversupply and weak prices. The war changed that picture dramatically. The closure of Hormuz has removed up to 14 million barrels a day from the market, propelling prices higher and triggering large global stock draws instead of the expected stock builds.

Yet high prices are often the best cure for shortages. Oil producers across the Americas have responded to the disruption by increasing output and exports. In the US, crude exports rose to a record 6.44 million barrels a day in April. It is also adding new export infrastructure, with nearly 800,000 barrels a day of additional dock capacity due to come online in 2026.

Meanwhile, Brazil has added eight new offshore floating oil production vessels in recent years, with a combined capacity approaching 1.5 million barrels a day. Its oil production is also expected to rise sharply again in 2026.

Petrobras, Brazil’s state oil company, recently started a new production project at one of these vessels in the Búzios field off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Production began five months ahead of schedule, partly to take advantage of elevated global prices.

Elsewhere in South America, Guyana has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing oil producers. Guyanese oil output has already reached around 900,000 barrels a day and could almost double by the end of the decade. Even Venezuela, long associated with declining oil production and economic crisis, has substantially increased exports in response to higher prices.

Taken together, the Americas are expected to produce around 30 million barrels of oil per day later in 2026, approaching pre-war Opec production levels. The US alone remains the world’s largest producer, with its total production of liquid hydrocarbons reaching almost 22 million barrels a day in April.

Opec helped create this boom

This rise in western hemispheric production did not happen in isolation. Ironically, it was helped by Opec itself. For years, Opec’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia and its partners restricted oil output to support higher prices. Those elevated prices helped make more expensive projects in the Americas commercially viable, especially US shale production.

Saudi Arabia’s strategy of “higher for longer” prices was partly driven by domestic economic ambitions. To finance projects linked to its economic diversification plans, including the vast new Neom city development, the Saudis need oil prices of at least US$90 a barrel. The result has been a powerful incentive for producers outside Opec to expand.

Yet, despite this momentum, declaring a permanent shift in oil’s centre of gravity away from the Middle East would be premature. The economics of production still strongly favour Gulf producers, with oil extraction costs in the Persian Gulf remaining among the lowest in the world.

In some fields, Saudi Arabia and neighbouring producers can extract oil for less than US$10 a barrel. Across the Gulf region more broadly, average production costs are estimated at roughly US$27 a barrel. By contrast, much of North American shale production requires prices closer to between US$50 and US$65 a barrel to remain profitable.

That difference matters enormously during periods of lower prices. If markets weaken again, higher-cost producers in the Americas would come under pressure first. Gulf producers, with vast reserves and extremely low costs, would probably be able to outlast them.

Geography also favours the Middle East in many key markets. For growing Asian economies such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, importing oil from the nearby Gulf remains the cheapest option.

Many Asian refineries were designed specifically to process Middle Eastern crude grades, which are rich in middle distillates such as diesel and jet fuel – the hydrocarbons that typically drive economic development. Much of the shale oil exported from the US is lighter and less suitable as a direct replacement.

At the same time, Gulf producers are investing heavily to protect their long-term role in global energy markets. The United Arab Emirates is expanding pipeline infrastructure that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, including upgrading its Habshan-Fujairah pipeline.

And Saudi Arabia already operates its vast East-West Pipeline, which is capable of transporting 7 million barrels per day of oil to the Red Sea. These projects are designed to reduce vulnerability to regional instability and secure export routes for decades to come.

The Americas are unquestionably transforming the global oil market. The region is now effectively what is known as a swing producer, providing some flexibility during supply crises and geopolitical shocks.

But long-term dominance in oil markets is determined not only by production volumes. Cost, geography, infrastructure and reserve size matter too. On those measures, the Middle East still holds a formidable advantage.

For as long as the world continues to consume large volumes of oil, the Gulf is likely to remain the industry’s core production and export hub – even if the Americas are becoming an increasingly important source of crude oil.

Adi Imsirovic 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.

– ref. Is the Gulf losing its grip on the oil world? – https://theconversation.com/is-the-gulf-losing-its-grip-on-the-oil-world-282926

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Mark Tsagas, Senior Lecturer in Law, Cybercrime & AI Ethics, University of East London

The third in a series of military AI summits was held in La Coruña, Spain in February 2026. The aim of the meeting was to convert previously agreed principles on the military use of AI into action. The summit was attended by government officials, military personnel, representatives from industry and researchers from thinktanks.

The goal of many experts and policymakers in this area is to usher countries towards a regulatory framework on using machine intelligence in warfare. To this end, the latest Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) summit presented a non-binding commitment for countries to sign.

The REAIM agreement affirmed the need for human oversight of military AI systems, called for countries to carry out risk assessments and robust testing, and committed to transparency on how decisions are made when using AI in conflicts.

The reasoning behind such recommendations is sound. However, translating such a framework from plan to action faces multiple hurdles. Ultimately, less than half of the countries represented at this year’s REAIM summit signed the non-binding commitment.

To understand why, it’s instructive to look at what happened at the 80th UN General Assembly held in New York in December 2025. At the meeting, members of the assembly’s first committee voted overwhelmingly to approve two resolutions calling for greater international scrutiny of the risks from military uses of AI. However, the US and Russia notably opposed the resolutions.

The US had been a signatory to earlier REAIM summit commitments. But this year, the US and China both declined to sign it. There seems little doubt that this helped fuel the hesitancy of other countries.

The Netherlands’ defence minister Ruben Brekelmans put it succinctly when he said that governments face a “prisoner’s dilemma”. This is a concept in game theory where two rational individuals face competing incentives to cooperate with or betray one other.

Countries are effectively having to implement responsible restrictions on military AI without subjecting their armed forces to limitations that could be exploited by a less conscientious enemy.

An important sticking point is the deployment of autonomous AI systems in warfare. The idea of autonomous weapons systems, which make decisions without input from a human, remains a grave concern for many interested parties on this issue.

There continues to be a consensus against using such weapons. But countries can’t reach a common position over how to define them, particularly so-called lethal autonomous weapons systems – or Laws for short. These are often characterised as “killer robots”, though a more detailed description remains elusive.

A uniform definition for such systems could be an important first step towards a discussion on regulation. But, despite efforts by academic experts to draft and amend flexible definitions, countries remain too far apart on the characteristics they ascribe to these weapons.

The impasse is informed by a fear that accepting a definition could restrict countries’ militaries on the battlefield – threatening national security.

Testing grounds for tech

Existing legal mechanisms, such as international humanitarian laws, already prohibit the irresponsible and unethical use of military AI – in theory, at least. But how these laws would function in practice when applied to real world scenarios is uncertain.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the war in Gaza and the more recent escalation in Iran are being used by militaries as testing grounds for such technology.

The Lavender intelligence gathering and targeting software, used by Israel in Gaza, and Anthropic’s AI Model Claude, used by the US in Iran, demonstrate the rapid pace of advancement in AI-powered data gathering and analysis. This can help military planners make quicker decisions.

Drone warfare – AI assisted, autonomous and semi-autonomous – has grown at an equally rapid rate. This emerging technology is evolving significantly faster than the potential rules that could govern its use.

There’s a recurring argument that humans in the loop can operate as effective safeguards against the misuse of military AI systems. But as human overseers become familiar with the AI systems they use, their engagement may slip, causing them to become detached from the process.

As this happens, they may start to view real people as mere objects on a screen. This effect is known as automation bias. In such instances, human oversight could cease to be meaningful and instead lead to the simple rubber stamping of recommendations made by AI.

Additionally, the downsides of AI technology, such as bias, misinformation and disinformation generated by the systems themselves, and the erosion of human judgement resulting from overreliance on these systems, are not easy to solve after they enter use. This is why the REAIM summit commitment recommended risk assessments and robust testing before AI systems are adopted by militaries.

Without regulation, the risk of harm caused by AI systems remains significant. The severity of such risks balloons in magnitude when they are applied to military contexts. Miscalculations can lead to unintended escalation, as well as civilian deaths.

Mark Tsagas 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.

– ref. Fears of helping the enemy are blocking international agreements on AI in weapons systems – https://theconversation.com/fears-of-helping-the-enemy-are-blocking-international-agreements-on-ai-in-weapons-systems-282160

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Matthew Bolton, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London

Police are investigating an attack on a Jewish man in Golders Green, London, just weeks after two Jewish men were stabbed in the area. These are the latest in a series of violent attacks on Jewish people and institutions. They have also given fresh impetus to a long-running debate about the extent of antisemitism in the UK.

My research explores how the law approaches the thorny question of where political critique of Israel ends and antisemitism begins. This is a sensitive topic, which events like this have brought to public attention once again.

In a statement, Prime Minister Keir Starmer identified three causes of what he described as a “crisis for all of us”. First, he cited “hate preachers” and “charities that promote antisemitic extremism”. Second, Starmer referred to “the malign threat posed by states like Iran,” after a group with Iranian links was investigated in relation to arson attacks on Jewish charity Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green.

The third was more controversial: the prime minister pointed the finger at those who “diminish” the antisemitism faced by Jews today. Standing alongside those who chant “globalise the intifada” at marches is, according to Starmer, “calling for terrorism against Jews”.

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Read more:
Why banning pro-Palestine marches is a risky response to antisemitic violence

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“Intifada” is an Arabic term used to describe Palestinian uprisings against Israel in the late 1980s and early 2000s – the latter involving suicide bombings aimed at civilian targets in Israel. Starmer went as far as saying that people who approvingly use that phrase should be prosecuted.

Responses from some of the British Jewish community seemed to back Starmer up. Many expressed a sense of vulnerability and isolation, exacerbated by betrayal at a perceived lack of solidarity from anti-racist activists.

Similar feelings surfaced after the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023. For many Jews, a lack of empathy – at best – for the victims and the scale of the trauma testified to an “indifference to Jewish death … across the world”. Throughout the subsequent war in Gaza, many felt that the military threat posed by Hamas was routinely erased from public debate.

The rising popularity of zero-sum arguments pitting Israeli “settler colonialism” against Palestinian “indigeneity” further squeezed the space for dialogue. This led to a defensive hardening of positions. Even British Jews sceptical of – or appalled by – the war’s conduct felt unable to express that opposition, for fear that it might be used to delegitimise Israel’s existence and encourage antisemitic reprisals.

But it also contributed to the widespread adoption of a new critique of “antizionist ideology”. While recognising that some of the more outlandish claims about Israeli conduct can draw on an older repertoire of anti-Jewish conspiracies, in its more crude variations this ends up classing almost any accusation of Israeli wrongdoing as a “libel”.

The claim that Israeli actions in Gaza could amount to genocide, for example, is regarded as akin to the “blood libel” – the antisemitic fantasy that Jews kill Christian children for religious rituals. Often, no distinction is made between, say, the careful analysis of an Israeli scholar and the wild-eyed rantings of a social media provocateur.

There are diverse modes of opposition to Israel, ranging from Islamist rejections of the concept of Jewish sovereignty, to sober reports of Israeli human rights abuses. In the current framing of antizionism, these are reduced into a singular, undifferentiated ideology, which is then inflated into an existential threat to “the west”.

This mirrors the equally reductive characterisation of Zionism by some of the pro-Palestinian movement: a single, innately malign ideology that is “the enemy of world peace”, responsible for climate change, and a danger to the world.

At its worst, this new movement against antizionism denies Palestinian suffering in much the same way as those who refuse to “open their eyes to Jewish pain”, as Starmer put it.

Jewish identity and Israel

Starmer’s claim that slogans like “globalise the intifada” should be simply understood as “terrorism against Jews” owes something to this reductive approach. It is true that some Jews interpret such phrases in this way, particularly in light of the sometimes casual attitude to political violence among protesters. And there are clearly times when they could be hate speech – if directly targeted at Jewish people, communal buildings or even pro-Israel protesters for instance.

But there are other rational interpretations for its non-targeted use – using “intifada” as substitute for “revolution”, perhaps, or as an attempt to link the Palestinian cause to wider opposition to global capitalism. Regardless of how convincing one finds such explanations, such uses of the word cannot be automatically classed as calls for antisemitic violence.

To insist that this is the only meaning is to eradicate any distinction between Jews in general and Israel in particular. This is troublingly similar to those who call for violence against Jews in retaliation for Israeli actions – albeit for very different reasons.

Conflating Jews and Israel, from whatever direction, simplifies the complex historical relation that exists between modern Jewish identity and Israel. The two are certainly not identical, as confirmed by the rising number of Jews who are rejecting any connection, or warning of an impending clash between “Jewish values” and an Israel controlled by far-right factions.

Yet it is also too easy to pretend that they have nothing to do with each other. Like other 19th-century nationalisms, Zionism sought to revive and transform older modes of (Jewish) collective belonging. Meanwhile, the post-Holocaust reconstruction of Jewish identity was inextricably linked to the establishment of Israel as a Jewish-majority state.

The connection might vary from person to person – from the belief that Israel is needed to guarantee Jewish safety, to national, religious, cultural and familial reasons. But the significance of Israel to the majority of Jews cannot be lightly skipped over by repeating truisms like “not all Jews are Zionists” – even if it categorically does not mean Jews are politically responsible for what the Israeli government does.

But neither is Israel a simple extension of Jewish identity, in the way that Starmer suggests. The risk is that – as shown by the misguided proscribing of the Palestine Action group – pouring police resources into arresting those who chant indeterminate slogans will divert attention away from protecting communities like Golders Green.

Matthew Bolton receives funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee (grant number EPZ002893/1).

– ref. What Keir Starmer got wrong about Zionism and antisemitism – https://theconversation.com/what-keir-starmer-got-wrong-about-zionism-and-antisemitism-282505

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Zhonghua Zheng, Assistant Professor in Data Science and Environmental Analytics, University of Manchester

More than half the world’s population now lives in cities that are often much hotter than their rural surroundings. Roads, buildings and paved surfaces absorb and store heat during the day, then release it slowly after sunset. This is known as the urban heat island effect.

Discussions about why cities overheat tend to focus on buildings, which is understandable. As well as absorbing solar radiation, residential and office buildings consume a lot of energy through lighting, heating and air conditioning. They release waste heat, and shape the flow of air through surrounding streets.

But another source of urban heat receives much less attention: traffic.

Motorised vehicles release heat directly into the urban environment. This is especially true of petrol and diesel vehicles, where much of the fuel energy is lost as waste heat from internal combustion engines and exhaust systems. Tyres, brakes and friction with the road surface all add to these heat emissions.

In streets with heavy traffic and limited ventilation, traffic can be a significant source of human-made heat – as my recent study with colleagues of two major European cities shows.

In the southern French city of Toulouse, our modelling found that traffic heat increases the average annual air temperature by about 0.4°C. In Manchester, a typically cooler city in the north of England, the average annual air temperature increased by around 0.25°C thanks to its traffic.

These numbers may sound small, but in urban climate terms they are meaningful. During heatwaves, even small increases in air temperature can worsen thermal discomfort, increase health risks and raise demand for cooling.

Our past research has shown how the intensity, frequency and length of urban heatwaves are projected to increase in many parts of the world by 2070 (see maps). This includes cities in North America, Europe, India and China. Our latest work suggests these rises could in part be mitigated by reducing urban petrol and diesel traffic.

Projected urban heat changes by 2061-70:

How Manchester and Toulouse compare

The Community Earth System Model is a widely used open-source model for simulating interactions between land, atmosphere, climate and human activity – launched by the US National Center for Atmospheric Research in 2010.

However, traffic-related heat was not considered by the model – so we developed a new module for it which estimates heat generated from factors like traffic volume, vehicle type, road characteristics and weather conditions. Our results change depending on the time of day, according to the nature of the traffic and local weather conditions, for example.

We found that the most heat-polluting elements are generally high traffic volumes – and which kind of vehicles predominate in these traffic jams. Conventional petrol and diesel vehicles release substantially more waste heat than electric vehicles. In cities with lots of these vehicles, peak-period rush hours can become important sources of heat emissions.

We modelled traffic in two European cities – the central Capitole area of Toulouse and central Manchester – using traffic data provided by Transport for Greater Manchester and other open datasets.

Toulouse and Manchester have quite different climates, urban landscapes and traffic patterns – all of which affect not only how much heat is released by traffic, but how that heat affects each city.

In Toulouse, morning traffic heat built up through the day and persisted into the night. In contrast, Manchester’s evening rush hour contributed to stronger overnight warming, with its air temperature from traffic peaking around 3am, on average.

In both cities, the traffic-related warming effect was stronger in winter than summer. In Toulouse, our modelling found it raised air temperature by an average of 0.5°C in winter and 0.3°C in summer, while in Manchester the increase was 0.35°C in winter and 0.16°C in summer.

The role of traffic in urban heating

Awareness of urban heat risk is increasing, but the role played by traffic is still rarely considered in urban climate adaptation and transport planning.

As cities continue to grow and climate extremes become more common, governments need better tools to understand where urban heat comes from and how it can be reduced. Our work is another step towards more realistic simulations of future cities.

Our model could offer more accurate answers to important questions such as: how much will electrification of vehicles reduce heat levels? How will changes in road design, vehicle use and congestion patterns affect local heat exposure? And to what extent can changes in urban transport methods limit the effects of predicted future heatwaves?

These are, of course, not just scientific questions but policy and design issues. Concerns around cities getting hotter often focus on trees, parks, cool roofs and building design. But traffic is not just a source of pollution and carbon emissions – it can also be part of how we plan cooler, healthier and more resilient cities.

Dr Zhonghua Zheng receives funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

– ref. How traffic makes cities warmer – https://theconversation.com/how-traffic-makes-cities-warmer-283195

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Camilla Allen, Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, University of Sheffield

Three gardens at the 2026 RHS Chelsea Flower Show have found themselves mired in controversy rather than the more usual mud.

This year’s show gardens include one designed by Matt Keightley, who has used Spacelift, a design app he developed that incorporates AI. Advocates of such tools praise their potential to democratise garden design and make it more accessible. Critics, however, argue that these technologies risk reproducing or appropriating existing designs, and could ultimately threaten the livelihoods of professional garden designers.

Happily, gardening is an ancient practice and has long been managed and enjoyed without the use of technology. Here are six tech-free lessons from history to help you get started designing your garden without turning to AI.

1. Get back to books

Not sure where to start? A book is still one of the richest sources of guidance, and the history of gardening bestsellers offers a revealing window into changing tastes, practices and traditions.

This list of the 20 most popular titles for American public libraries suggests that food growing, biodiversity and design are key interests for budding gardeners.

And it’s not just books from today that have something to offer. I’d recommend travelling back to the 17th century with diarist and polymath John Evelyn. His Elysium Britannicum, written in the 1650s, records a deep fascination with nature and design, showing that ingenuity and gardening have long gone hand in hand.

2. Go for a walk and imagine what is possible

The landscape painter and designer William Kent is said to have “leapt the fence and [seen] that all nature was a garden”. This moment is often taken to mark the shift away from the formal aristocratic gardens of the 17th century towards a more naturalistic style.

This philosophical turn helped shape the development of the English landscape garden, but it can also speak to the present moment, when we are being encouraged to make our own gardens – most of which are not landscape-scale – more welcoming to nature.

One of the simplest ways to begin is to look closely at your surroundings: explore your neighbourhood, observe what thrives and take note of what you like and what works well.

3. Consult the genius loci and start with the bones

Cartoonist Osbert Lancaster and his wife Anne Scott-James lightly ribbed 20th-century suburban gardens in their 1977 book The Pleasure Garden: An Illustrated History of British Gardening. Post-second world war urbanisation gave many more people the opportunity to have their own gardens, reflected in a kind of “consistent inconsistency” of patios, lawns, borders and vegetable plots.

The eclecticism they observed can instead be read as an invitation to consult the genius loci – the “spirit of the place” – and to engage with the features and atmosphere that give a garden its character, rather than treating it as a blank slate.

Indeed, in her 1971 book Down to Earth, Anne Scott-James recognised that most gardeners do not have perfect sites. Working with “the bones” of a garden, she argued, is therefore essential, achieved through creating harmony within the broader context.

4. Follow the rules and put things in perspective

There are plenty of principles and approaches that can be applied to garden design, from formal symmetry and a carefully chosen material palette to planting styles that range from sculpted topiary to naturalistic meadow.

Beginning with an aspiration can help to focus these choices, and looking at what has constituted garden design through the ages through the ages can be a useful way of anchoring your own vision.

5. Visit gardens

In 2027 the National Garden Scheme will be 100 years old. It represents a wonderful continuum of curiosity and conviviality as members of the public gain access to otherwise private gardens.

The scheme was set up by Elsie Wagg, a council member of the Queen’s Nursing Institute and has subsequently evolved into an organisation that funds a range of health charities.

Being able to see what other gardeners have achieved – and the effort that has gone into making those spaces – is one of the most effective tech-free ways of learning. Taking a camera or sketchbook can be a simple way to observe more closely and carry those ideas back into your own garden.

6. Gardening is technology

When economic historian Roderick Floud turned his attention to the history of gardening in An Economic History of the English Garden (2019), he revealed the scale and long-term economic impact of the sector.

Did you know that many innovations in central heating, water engineering and glasshouse construction have their roots in gardens? It’s a point many people may not be aware of, making it a useful story to share when showing visitors around your dahlias – while also quietly recognising that technology has always been embedded in gardening, even when we don’t immediately see it.

What’s your favourite gardening tip from history? Let us know in the comments below.

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This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something, The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

Camilla Allen is a trustee of the Yorkshire Gardens Trust.

– ref. Six tech-free tips from history for designing your garden – https://theconversation.com/six-tech-free-tips-from-history-for-designing-your-garden-283008