Category: The Conversation – UK

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Natasha Lindstaedt, Professor in the Department of Government, University of Essex

Dick Cheney, one of the most important figures in America’s neo-conservative movement, has died at the age of 84. Cheney had a long career in government and was considered by many as one of the most powerful vice-presidents in US history.

Cheney started his career in politics in 1968 in the office of William Steiger, a Republican representative from Wisconsin, before joining the staff of Donald Rumsfeld, who was at the time the director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. By 1974, Cheney was brought on to the team of Gerald Ford, who had assumed the US presidency that year following the resignation of Richard Nixon. He followed Rumsfeld as Ford’s White House chief of staff in 1975, at the age of 34.

Cheney then went on to spend over a decade serving as a member of the House of Representatives. He represented a district in Wyoming until 1989 when he was appointed secretary of defense by the then-president, George H.W. Bush.

This experience would prove critical to Cheney’s subsequent selection as running mate by Bush’s son, George W. Bush, for his 2000 presidential campaign as the Republican candidate. Bush Jr. went on to win that election, and his partnership with Cheney would ultimately prove incredibly significant in reshaping US foreign policy in the Middle East.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the neo-conservative movement gained momentum in Washington and found an ally in Cheney. He was a founding signatory of the so-called Project for the New American Century, which became a major forum for neo-conservative thinking. The goal was to promote US interests – namely spreading democracy abroad – through a bold deployment of military power.

This interventionist foreign policy culminated in the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. Considered by some to be a shadow president, Cheney had a huge influence over Bush Jr. He reportedly played a major role in convincing Bush to go to war in Iraq.

Cheney expressed no regrets about this decision, calling critics of the war “spineless” in 2005. But a majority of Americans considered this decision to be a grave error.

The war is estimated to have cost the US well over US$1 trillion (£800 billion), and as much as US$3 trillion when taking the wider regional conflict it sparked into account. The war also led to the deaths of as many as 600,000 Iraqi civilians, according to an estimate published by the Lancet medical journal.

There were also questions about whether Cheney had a conflict of interest. He had previously served as the chief executive of Halliburton, a company that won billions of dollars in US military contracts to restore Iraq’s oil sector – this included some of the biggest military logistics contracts in history. Cheney was even accused of coordinating preferential awarding of contracts to the company, though he and Halliburton denied it.

He was also accused of circumventing due process, constitutional checks and congressional oversight during his time as vice-president. A prominent example of this was his involvement in a programme to intercept domestic communications without a judicial warrant.

Cheney was also widely disliked in the intelligence community. Many of these people resented the way he undermined the CIA by, for example, instructing subordinates in the agency to transmit raw intelligence directly to his office.

Change of heart?

Given that Cheney believed executive power needed to be expanded, there was a degree of irony in his decision to endorse the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, in the 2024 presidential election. The winner of that election, Donald Trump, also favours an executive unencumbered by institutions.

But Cheney clearly had his limits. While Bush Jr. was reticent to publicly attack Trump, Cheney became one of his harshest critics. This was especially so after Liz Cheney, his daughter and a now former congresswoman, voted to impeach Trump after the insurrection of January 6 2021, which made her enemy number one in Trump’s eyes.

However, some critics claim that it was Cheney’s shadow presidency that paved the way for Trump’s aggressive expansion of the executive power of the presidency. Along the way, he wielded the power of the vice-presidency in a way not been seen before or, arguably, since.

Cheney was not just powerful but prone to operating clandestinely, even creating an independent operation inside the White House. All of this helped fuel mistrust of the government.

As Cheney advanced in age, his stances seemed to be softening from the Darth Vader image he had embraced as vice-president. More than half of the multi-million fortune that Cheney gained from selling his Halliburton stock options, for example, was donated to the Cardiac Institute at George Washington University.

Cheney, who survived five heart attacks and eventually a heart transplant, was seen a political survivor. But the Republican party that he had led in the shadows has been transformed. Once a towering figure in the conservative movement, today his brand of conservatism is a relic of the past.

Natasha Lindstaedt 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. Dick Cheney dies: giant of the US conservative movement whose legacy was defined by the Iraq war – https://theconversation.com/dick-cheney-dies-giant-of-the-us-conservative-movement-whose-legacy-was-defined-by-the-iraq-war-269019

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University

A group of scientists in the UK recently demanded that bacon and ham products carry health warnings similar to those on cigarettes.

These experts argue that these meats, which are often preserved with chemicals called nitrites, pose a cancer risk that successive UK governments have failed to address.

They are urging the government to act on growing evidence that these foods can increase the risk of cancer, particularly colon (bowel) cancer. This type of cancer is rising, especially among young people, for reasons that remain unclear despite growing research into potential causes.

It has been nearly a decade since the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified processed meat as a group 1 carcinogen, meaning there is strong evidence it can cause cancer. That places it in the same category as tobacco and asbestos.

Since then, the UK government has faced mounting pressure to regulate or ban carcinogenic preservatives used in many processed meats such as bacon and ham. These preservatives, known as nitrites, are added to keep meat looking fresh and pink, enhance flavour and prevent spoilage. But they are now implicated in tens of thousands of cancer cases every year in the UK.

The danger comes from the way nitrites behave once eaten. Inside the body, they can turn into compounds called nitrosamines, which are potent carcinogens that damage DNA, the genetic material that controls how cells grow and divide.

These nitrosamines can attach themselves to DNA in the liver, forming DNA adducts, which are small chemical bonds that stick to the genetic material and distort its structure. This damage can cause genetic errors that, over time, build up and allow cells to divide uncontrollably, forming tumours, particularly in the colon.

Nitrosamines can also trigger stress within cells by creating harmful molecules called reactive oxygen species, which cause additional DNA damage. This combination of oxidative stress and genetic instability can help cancer develop and spread.

Scientific consensus

Experts estimate that nitrites in processed meats have caused around 54,000 cases of colorectal cancer in the UK over the past ten years. Since the IARC classification in 2015, the scientific consensus supporting this link has only grown stronger.

Recent studies continue to confirm a clear association between eating processed meat and an increased risk of colorectal cancer. Other research has extended these concerns to breast cancer, finding that women who eat processed meat weekly have a significantly higher risk than those who do not.

The greatest risk comes from meats treated with nitrites. In response, the EU has tightened regulations by reducing permitted levels of nitrites in processed meats. The EU aims to lead the way in food safety and cancer prevention by encouraging the use of safer alternatives.

Industry groups of food manufacturers that oppose nitrite bans argue that removing them could make food less safe by increasing the risk of bacterial contamination. Many scientists and food safety experts disagree. With modern refrigeration and hygiene standards, they say, it is entirely possible to produce safe, long-lasting cured meats without nitrites.

European producers already sell nitrite-free meats at scale, with no recorded outbreaks of food poisoning linked to such products for decades. This challenges the claim that nitrites are essential for food safety.

Food scientists generally believe innovation can protect public health while maintaining quality and taste. The debate, however, goes beyond food technology. It raises broader questions about how governments balance consumer safety, industry interests and public health priorities.

A call for preventive action

Advocates for reform say the government should take stronger responsibility by phasing out harmful additives and improving food labelling so consumers can make informed choices. They argue that the UK now lags behind the EU in food safety standards after Brexit, where stricter controls on nitrites have already been introduced.

From a public health perspective, dietary carcinogens such as nitrites represent a preventable cause of cancer. Reducing exposure could significantly lower the national cancer burden and ease pressure on healthcare systems.

Diet plays a key role in cancer risk and in related conditions such as obesity. Cutting down on eating processed meats, and supporting safer production methods, would be a major step forward for both personal and public health.

The message from researchers is clear. Processed meats containing nitrites pose a significant and well-documented cancer risk. With growing scientific evidence and public awareness, there is now real pressure on policymakers to act. Banning or phasing out these carcinogenic additives, introducing cancer warnings on packaging and supporting producers to switch to safer alternatives could save thousands of lives.

Justin Stebbing 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. The case for a cancer warning on your bacon butty – https://theconversation.com/the-case-for-a-cancer-warning-on-your-bacon-butty-268404

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Hannah Hughes, Senior Lecturer International Politics and Climate Change, Aberystwyth University

For two weeks during November, countries are coming together in the city of Belém in Brazil to negotiate their responses to climate change. This will be the 30th UN climate summit, known as Cop30. It marks ten years since the negotiation of the Paris agreement (a global agreement to keep temperature rise to well below 2°C, and as close to 1.5°C as possible). For the first time, this global summit is being held in the Amazon, the largest rainforest ecosystem in the world.

But most countries have not submitted their national climate plans, and the US has withdrawn from the Paris agreement. While many governments remain committed to climate action, the agreement’s objective requires difficult decisions.

Research has documented how countries dependent on fossil fuel wealth have sought to weaken climate science published by the UN’s climate authority (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC) and undermine its influence on UN climate negotiations for decades.

The transition away from fossil fuels is difficult for countries. An ambiguous timeline for fossil fuel phase out and investment in technologies that remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere are easier options. The Paris agreement also comes with financial and technological obligations for developed countries.

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Read more:
US politics has long shaped global climate action and science – how much will Trump’s opposition matter?

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Under the Paris agreement, countries agreed to reach a new climate finance target by 2025. Developed countries failed to reach the previous goal of providing US$100 billion (£76 billion) by 2020.

At the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan last November, known as Cop29, a new financial goal was agreed. However, the US$300 billion a year by 2035 target agreed fell well below what developing countries actually needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Progress to increase climate finance to US$1.3 trillion will be a key debate at Cop30. Despite historical responsibility, these weak financial commitments indicate that developed countries are not providing the climate leadership needed.

Brazil’s climate presidency

Brazilian Cop30 president, André Corrêa do Lago, has a critical role to play as mediator and bridge builder to increase the collective ambition of governments.

In Brazil’s leadership of Cop30, the tension between negotiating and implementing the Paris agreement are apparent. While Brazil deploys its diplomatic resources to strengthen the global climate response, it appears to undermine it nationally by approving new fossil fuel exploitation.

Less than one month before Cop30, the state oil and gas company, Petrobras, was authorised to begin exploratory drilling in the mouth of the Amazon. Brazil intends to expand production by more than 20% by 2030 and is projected to become the fourth-largest producer in the world. The Brazilian government justifies this through the Paris agreement, which enables countries to choose their own climate action plans.

However, the Paris agreement is not just about government action. It recognises that action is needed by businesses, investors and cities and regions, and that everyone has a role to play, from climate youth to Indigenous people in collective climate action. Mobilising broader social participation and support has been a key objective of Brazil’s Cop30 presidency.

Amazon visions and voices

Brazil is hosting Cop30 in the Amazon, despite resistance to this location from countries because of limited and costly accommodation. Brazil Cop30 organisers are supporting greater Indigenous participation than any previous UN climate summit.

This will provide a platform for community voices most affected by climate change and deforestation. One of the key goals for Indigenous and other Amazonian communities at Cop30 will be to demand direct financing for their community funds — grassroots mechanisms designed to channel money directly to those protecting the forest. They argue that funding should go straight to local hands, not through government agencies, to ensure real autonomy and impact on the ground.

Gatherings outside the main venue for negotiations include the people’s summit and planned protest. At these alternative summit events Indigenous peoples and other civil society groups call for climate justice and try to hold governments accountable to their climate promises.

As researchers, we sit and listen to the climate negotiators. We have watched country negotiators push difficult decisions back another year and weaken collective commitment to fossil fuel phaseout. Fossil fuel interests have been empowered in US energy decision making and the US government now seeks to slow the energy transition outside of the Paris agreement. It is not clear which governments, if any, will lead the collective effort necessary to leave this dependence behind at Cop30.

We will be in Belém as a research team documenting the unfolding events. Our research into global agreement-making shows all the diverse ways that people participate in climate politics are important to ensure the Paris agreement objectives are met. In Belém, these diverse visions will come alive in vivid and tangible ways, offering glimpses of alternative futures and collective paths that could reshape how the world approaches climate action. That is what many people will be hoping to see.

Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

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Hannah Hughes receives funding from British Academy.

Veronica Korber Gonçalves receives funding from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

– ref. Brazil’s upcoming UN climate summit highlights how tricky climate pledges are to keep – https://theconversation.com/brazils-upcoming-un-climate-summit-highlights-how-tricky-climate-pledges-are-to-keep-267704

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Diane A. Rodgers, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies and Media & Communication, Sheffield Hallam University

“Three parapsychologists lose their university funding” sounds like the beginning of a terrible joke, rather than a premise for one of the most successful films of the 1980s. Nonetheless, this is how the story of Ghostbusters (1984) begins, with a trio of unlikely professors.

Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) cares more about flirting than research, Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) bounces around like an excitable puppy, while nerdy Egon Spengler’s (Harold Ramis) hobby is to “collect spores, moulds and fungus”. It’s no wonder the credibility of their research is called into question, after they attest to seeing a real ghost at the New York Public Library.

Turfed out of the hallowed halls of academia, the trio remain steadfast in their pursuit of ghosts, establishing “Ghostbusters” – a paranormal investigation outfit – in a disused New York firehouse. They hire a fourth member, Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), a commonsense everyman, and develop a series of nuclear-powered ghost-catching equipment.

The Ghostbusters vow to investigate reports of spooky encounters and, most importantly, “to believe you”.

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Read more:
Scary stories for kids: Gremlins and the terror of normal, even cute, things becoming horrific

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Ghostbusters ticked a heap of boxes in appealing to children – from the cartoon logo and catchy singalong theme tune asking “Who ya gonna call?” to the pleasingly retro Ecto-1 (a converted 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Sentinel ambulance), which positively begged to be made into a toy. However, you may be surprised to learn this film wasn’t originally made for young audiences.

Ghostbusters is full of scary scenes, sexual innuendo and bad language. Despite all this, it became a hit with children, spawning a world of kid-friendly spin-offs, books and toys. When I first saw the film at the age of seven, soon after its UK cinema release in December 1984, I was completely enraptured.

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This article is part of a series of expert recommendations of spooky stories – on screen and in print – for brave young souls. From the surprisingly dark depths of Watership Down to Tim Burton’s delightfully eerie kid-friendly films, there’s a whole haunted world out there just waiting for kids to explore. Dare to dive in here.

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The encounter that sets our heroes off on their path as ghost hunters is truly shocking. This is not a Casper-type of (friendly) ghost, ready to have a witty exchange. In the library, they meet a properly terrifying spectre of an old lady who suddenly transforms into a gruesome apparition, lunging directly at the camera.

From this early moment in the film, it’s apparent the audience is in for a rollercoaster ride. As a child, I used to dare myself to put my face right up to a double-page spread image of this ghoulish moment in the Ghostbusters storybook I had been given. That much-loved text would sow the seeds of my future as a horror scholar and folklorist.

The three principal stars would have been most recognisable to adult audiences in the 80s. They were regulars of late-night comedy shows like Saturday Night Live in the US, on which Aykroyd and Murray found fame, and Canada’s SCTV (Second City Television), for which Ramis both wrote and performed.

This sort of off-the-cuff sketch comedy wends its way into the film’s script. Many of Venkman’s lines, in particular, seem improvised and full of sharp, adult humour. Take the scene when he’s looking round Dana’s (Sigourney Weaver) apartment to assess paranormal activity. Explaining where he should direct his attention, Dana says: “That’s the bedroom, but nothing interesting ever happened in there” – to which Venkman replies: “What a crime.”

Such retorts went over most kids’ heads but left the adults laughing, which to me was a major appeal. The fact I could enjoy the film with my dad made watching Ghostbusters a true delight.

After seeing it, we chatted about plot details and he joked with me about getting “slimed” – a reference to an encountering with a mischievous and greedy green spectre (popularly referred to as “Slimer”) which leaves Venkman covered in sticky ectoplasm.

In the 1980s, of course, there was no repeat opportunity to see the film anytime soon, as it typically took between six months and a year to appear for rental – and then only if you were lucky enough to own a VHS player.

Happily for me, my dad’s enjoyment of it meant convincing him to take me to see Ghostbusters a second time at the cinema was easy. What is astounding to me, though, is the fact he also took me a third time, driving outside my hometown of Sheffield to find a cinema that was still showing it.

To quote his diary from February 1985: the seven-year-old me had “not stopped talking about it since last time”. For nostalgia’s sake, it’s also worth noting that dad jotted down the ticket prices: £1 for an adult and 80p for a child.

The enduring appeal of Ghostbusters to new and old fans alike is evident in the sequels, reboots and remakes that continue to be released. And having demanded that my parents make me a costume so I could dress up as Venkman for Halloween in the ’80s, I am delighted there are now versions (from 2016 onwards) that show girls being Ghostbusters too.

Ghostbusters is appropriate for children aged 10+

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Diane Rodgers receives funding from AHRC via Sheffield Hallam University for being co-lead on the National Folklore Survey for England project which runs from Jan 2025 – Dec 2026.

– ref. Scary stories for kids: I made my dad take me to see Ghostbusters three times – https://theconversation.com/scary-stories-for-kids-i-made-my-dad-take-me-to-see-ghostbusters-three-times-267791

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Benjamin Neimark, Senior Lecturer, School of Business Management, Queen Mary University of London

People across the Gaza Strip have been returning to towns and cities badly damaged by the war after a fragile ceasefire took effect in October. Eventually, their lives will be restored and their homes will be built back. But the climate consequences of the war will remain for years to come.

Research, which is currently under review, demonstrates that the equivalent of over 32 million tonnes of CO₂ was generated in the first 15 months of the war. This is equal to the greenhouse gas emissions of roughly eight-and-a-half coal-fired power plants in one year or the annual greenhouse gases emitted by Jordan.

The war in Ukraine has had a devastating environmental impact, too. One study, published in February 2025, concluded that the equivalent of nearly 237 million tonnes of CO₂ were released as a result of the war in the three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion. This figure is similar to the annual emissions of Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia combined.

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Wars and climate change are inextricably linked. Climate change can increase the likelihood of violent conflict by intensifying resource scarcity and displacement, while conflict itself accelerates environmental damage. This article is part of a series, War on climate, which explores the relationship between climate issues and global conflicts.

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It is currently up to researchers themselves to calculate the climate impact of wars. This is because there is no legal obligation for countries to report annual conflict emissions to the UN’s climate body, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). But that may soon change.

In July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered a historic advisory opinion on countries’ obligations to tackle climate change. This much-anticipated opinion confirmed that states are legally bound to protect the climate system, and must take concrete action to tackle and respond to the climate emergency.

Two of the court’s key legal findings were that states are obliged to do their utmost to prevent harm to the climate system and to cooperate with each other to that end. In a declaration annexed to the opinion, Judge Sarah Cleveland emphasised that this obligation necessarily includes assessing, reporting on and tackling greenhouse gas emissions from armed conflicts.

As she explained: “Failing to take such harms into account underreports and distorts our understanding of global warming and undermines the ability of the international community to tackle its causes. It is thus directly contrary to the international obligations of states to protect the climate system and other parts of the environment from greenhouse gas emissions.”

Protecting the environment

The ICJ’s opinion followed a number of international legal efforts in recent years to protect the environment from harm caused by conflict. In 2022, the UN’s authoritative International Law Commission released its “draft principles” on the protection of the environment during armed conflict. The principles were approved by the UN general assembly in December of that year.

They set out how the environment should be protected before, during and after armed conflicts, while also presenting a framework for environmental protection in situations of occupation. The principles include recognition of the potential of armed conflict to exacerbate global environmental challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss.

Ecocide is also emerging as an important way to think about war and its associated ecological destruction. This is defined as severe and either widespread or long-term harm to the environment that results from unlawful or wanton acts.

Several states, including Belgium and Chile, have already adopted the crime in their national laws. And the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, voted to adopt a motion in October “recognising the crime of ecocide to protect nature”.

The ecological devastation that has been inflicted in Gaza probably reaches the level of ecocide. Even before the conflict began, the populations of Gaza and neighbouring communities in Israel were experiencing long periods of water scarcity and extreme heat. But the widespread devastation caused by two years of war means Gazans now face devastating environmental and health conditions.

Food production is now impossible as munitions, solid waste and untreated sewage contaminate Gaza’s farmland. The UN Environment Programme estimates that up to 97% of tree crops, 82% of annual crops and 89% of pastureland there have been destroyed during the war.

One study, published in July 2025, also found that it could take as long as four decades to remove the millions of tonnes of rubble left by the Israeli military’s bombardment. The researchers estimated that removing and processing the rubble from Gaza alone will involve driving heavy machinery and trucks a total of 18 million miles – approximately 737 times around the world. This will generate the equivalent of almost 66,000 tonnes of CO₂.

International law is beginning to reflect the growing consensus among states and global bodies on the need to recognise the climate and wider environmental effects of armed conflicts. But the scale of the environmental damage inflicted by conflict underlines the urgent need for transparent reporting and robust data. Global climate policy is proceeding without the full facts.

Road to Belém

At Cop30, the UN’s upcoming 30th climate change conference in the Brazilian city of Belém, one of us (Benjamin Neimark) will attend a high-level panel that will address the issue of military emissions in Gaza. The failure of militaries to report emissions associated with armed conflict, in particular to the UNFCCC, will be central to the panel.

The panel will also highlight the impact of increased military spending on meeting the UN’s sustainable development goals, as well as the effects of climate hazards on de-mining and tree planting in post-conflict Colombia. And it will look at pathways to green reconstruction and energy decarbonisation in Ukraine.

Judge Cleveland’s ICJ declaration is not binding law. But it is an authoritative indication that time is running out for states that turn a blind eye to the significant climate harms of military activities. For global climate governance to succeed in averting disaster, wartime emissions must be brought into full view.

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Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

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Benjamin Neimark receives funding from the UKRI-ESRC. I am a Fellow at the Transition Security Project

Kate Mackintosh is affiliated with Stop Ecocide International.

– ref. How wars ravage the environment – and what international law is doing about it – https://theconversation.com/how-wars-ravage-the-environment-and-what-international-law-is-doing-about-it-268031

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Franziska Weinmar, PhD Candidate, Women’s Mental Health & Brain Function, University of Tübingen

Around one in five mothers experience perinatal depression. This condition involves depressive episodes during pregnancy or just after birth – often with lasting effects on both mother and child.

Yet despite its prevalence, identifying who is at risk of experiencing perinatal depression remains one of the greatest challenges in maternal health. More than half of cases go undetected. This means many women with signs of the condition receive no treatment at all.

But new research published by my colleagues and me in the journal Nature Mental Health shows that it may be possible to identify a mother’s vulnerability to perinatal depressive symptoms as early as the second trimester.

To conduct our study, we used data from over 600 women living in Sweden who were taking part in the Mom2B study. This large national project tracks perinatal mental health using a smartphone app.

We looked at whether the ability to regulate emotions in pregnancy is related to depressive symptoms through the perinatal period.

Previous studies have suggested that emotion regulation is crucial for maternal mental health. Difficulties managing emotions has been linked to higher stress and poor sleep, and greater risk of depression and anxiety after birth.

In the second trimester, participants completed a short questionnaire. This assessed how well they understood and accepted their emotions, controlled impulses and stay focused on goals when upset. It also looked at whether or not they used effective strategies to manage and recover from emotional distress.

We then followed up with these women at seven different points from mid-pregnancy up to one year after birth.

At each stage we assessed their depressive symptoms using the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale, a standard clinical screening measure. We wanted to know whether self-reported difficulties with emotion regulation during pregnancy could help identify those most likely to experience perinatal depression.

Our results showed that this was indeed the case. Women who reported greater difficulty regulating their emotions in the second trimester experienced higher depressive symptoms throughout pregnancy and up to six months after giving birth.

These associations held true even after accounting for other known risk factors of perinatal depression – such as previous depressive episodes, psychological resilience, previous pregnancy loss, fear of childbirth and negative birth experience.

Most striking was that women who later developed depressive symptoms in the postnatal period (the time after childbirth) had already reported greater difficulties regulating their emotions during pregnancy, that is, long before any symptoms appeared.

This suggests that self-reported problems with emotion regulation could serve as an early marker of a mother’s vulnerability for perinatal depression. These findings could be used to identify at-risk women before symptoms occur.

Emotion regulation

Emotion regulation is a core psychological skill. It involves being able to recognise, understand and manage emotions effectively. But it isn’t only about suppressing feelings. It’s about being able to respond flexibly and constructively to life’s challenges.

This skill is essential for stress management, healthy relationships and overall wellbeing. Research also shows that emotion regulation plays a role in many mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression.

Pregnancy is a profound transition with hormonal shifts, physical changes and, for some, worries about birth and new responsibilities. For women who already find it hard to regulate emotions, these challenges can heighten vulnerability to depression.

Fortunately, emotion regulation is not a fixed trait but a skill that can be strengthened. Approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness training have been shown to improve emotion regulation. These therapies help people become more aware of their emotions, recognise unhelpful thought patterns and respond to stress with greater calm and flexibility.

These approaches have also been adapted for pregnant women. They focus on incorporating information about parent-infant bonding and teaching emotional coping skills during pregnancy and early parenthood. Supporting these skills in expectant mothers could offer a valuable way to prevent depressive symptoms before they develop.

Perinatal depression screening

Despite the high prevalence of perinatal depression, routine screening is not standard practice in many countries. Even where screening exists, it typically focuses on depressive symptoms that have already emerged – often after childbirth, when the window for early prevention has passed.

Our study provides strong evidence that emotion regulation is linked to perinatal depressive symptoms. Our research has also shown that this link appears early – long before signs of distress may be noticed.

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Read more:
Perinatal depression linked with premenstrual mood disorders – new research

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The findings also highlight how simple questionnaires, which only take a few minutes to complete, could be used to effectively identify those most at risk. This also means that doctors and nurses would be able to offer targeted support to those women most at risk before their symptoms develop.

Future research will need to test how best to implement emotion regulation screenings into antenatal care. It should also aim to identify which interventions work best to strengthen emotional resilience.

Perinatal depression can affect bonding and child development. Being able to identify those most at risk of the condition and intervene early would have long-term wellbeing benefits for both mother and child. By recognising the importance of emotion regulation, we can take a meaningful step toward earlier detection, effective prevention and healthier beginnings for families.

Franziska Weinmar is associated to the University of Tübingen, Germany and Uppsala University, Sweden. She receives funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the International Research Training Group “Women’s Mental Health Across the Reproductive Years” (DFG, IRTG2804).

– ref. Problems regulating emotions during pregnancy linked with perinatal depression – new research – https://theconversation.com/problems-regulating-emotions-during-pregnancy-linked-with-perinatal-depression-new-research-268620

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Giulia Sciorati, LSE Fellow in International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science

Protests erupted in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, in October 2020 following disputed parliamentary elections. Only four political parties out of 16 had passed the threshold for entry into parliament. Three of these had close ties to the country’s then-president, Sooronbay Jeenbekov.

Kyrgyzstan’s powerful neighbour, China, responded to the unrest with restraint – but in a way that implied democracy can cause political upheaval. Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said: “China sincerely hopes that all parties in Kyrgyzstan can resolve the issue according to law through dialogue and consultation, and push for stability as soon as possible”.

China adopted a different tone when Kazakhstan’s government responded violently to civil unrest in early 2022. It endorsed the Kazakh president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, repeating his claims that “terrorists trained abroad” were responsible for the unrest. Beijing praised Tokayev’s firm response, which left hundreds of people dead.

Why did China, confronted with two uprisings in neighbouring countries, react cautiously in one case and assertively in the other? As my recently published research shows, the answer points to a broader pattern in the promotion of authoritarian governance in the world today.

Researchers tend to assume that authoritarian regimes seek to export a coherent ideological model, like how the Soviet Union once promoted communism. The Soviet Union declared the aim of advancing communism abroad during the cold war, presenting one-party rule and central planning as a model for sympathetic regimes to adopt.

But few autocracies nowadays have a common ideological model to advance. Repressive regimes like the one in Beijing instead look to normalise autocratic practices elsewhere by presenting them as reasonable solutions to pressing governance challenges.

I call this “autocracy commercialisation”. Just as products are marketed differently depending on the consumer, China encourages autocratic practices in different ways that are tailored to local conditions.

Different approaches

The Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan examples illustrate this dynamic. Since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Kyrgyzstan was for many years considered the most democratic country in central Asia. It had an active political opposition, as well as a vibrant civil society and independent media outlets.

Here, Beijing has relied on what I describe in my research as a “defensive logic”. This has seen it present autocratic practices to Kyrgyzstan’s political leaders as a possible bulwark against democratic volatility. These practices have ultimately been accepted, and Kyrgyzstan has further descended towards authoritarianism.

During the unrest in 2020, Chinese officials and state media repeatedly warned that continued political turmoil could undermine Kyrgyzstan’s development. They urged all parties to resolve issues swiftly “through dialogue and consultation”. Through these claims, Beijing presented stability as the highest political good and implied that elections – and, by extension, participatory democracy – can lead to chaos.

Following the protests, the electoral authorities in Kyrgyzstan annulled the results of the elections. Jeenbekov accused “political forces” of trying to seize power illegally and subsequently resigned. He told the BBC he was ready to hand over “responsibility to strong leaders”.

A nationalist politician called Sadyr Zhaparov rapidly consolidated power in Kyrgyzstan after Jeenbekov’s resignation. He first declared himself acting president before being officially elected several months later in a vote criticised for lacking genuine competition.

China swiftly recognised his government, treating it as a return to order after a period of instability. In 2024, Kyrgyzstan then put forward new laws to give more power to governing authorities and curb dissent. Media freedoms have also narrowed under Zhaparov’s rule and civil society space has shrunk.

Kazakhstan shows a different picture – demonstrating what I call an “affirmative logic”. When protests over fuel prices escalated into nationwide unrest in January 2022, Chinese officials aligned themselves with the government’s account of events. They emphasised terrorism and foreign interference as the root causes.

China not only fully supported Tokayev and praised his leadership. It also highlighted the stabilising roles of regional security organisations such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which sent troops to Kazakhstan to help tackle the protests, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Autocracy was framed affirmatively by Beijing as the guarantor of order.

Kazakhstan has subsequently continued along its authoritarian path. In April 2024, for instance, a new media law came into effect that gave the ministry of information powers to block accreditation of foreign media and their representatives if they deem them as posing a threat to national security.

These two cases show how China adapts its narratives to different contexts. This adaptability is powerful. By promoting autocracy as a flexible and context-sensitive practice, regimes such as the one in Beijing render it legitimate and, at times, preferable to any other.

Recognising this strategy is essential for those concerned with the global clash between democracy and authoritarianism. It helps explain why autocracy persists across diverse settings and why its appeal may be broader than many people suggest.

Giulia Sciorati 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. How China spreads authoritarian practices beyond its borders – https://theconversation.com/how-china-spreads-authoritarian-practices-beyond-its-borders-266543

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Bran Nicol, Professor of English, University of Surrey

Some writers appear so accurate in their assessment of where society and technology is taking us that they have attracted the label “prophet”. Think of J. G. Ballard, Octavia E. Butler, Marshall McLuhan, or Donna Haraway.

One of the most important members of this enlightened club is the philosopher Jean Baudrillard – even though his reputation over the past couple of decades has diminished to an association with a now bygone era when fellow French theorists such as Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida reigned supreme.

In writing our new biography of Baudrillard, however, we have been reminded just how prescient his predictions about modern technology and its effects have turned out to be. Especially insightful is his understanding of digital culture and AI – presented over 30 years before the launch of ChatGPT.

Back in the 1980s, cutting-edge communication technology involved devices which seem obsolete to us now: answering machines, fax machines, and (in France) Minitel, an interactive online service that predated the internet. But Baudrillard’s genius lay in foreseeing what these relatively rudimentary devices suggested about likely future uses of technology.

In the late 1970s, he had begun to develop a highly original theory of information and communication. This ramped up following the publication of his book Simulacra and Simulation in 1981 (the book which influenced the 1999 movie The Matrix).

In 1986 Baudrillard was noting that in society “the scene and the mirror have given way to a screen and a network”. He predicted the use of the smartphone, foreseeing each person in control of a machine which would isolate them “in a position of perfect sovereignty”, like “an astronaut in a bubble”. Such insights helped him go on to devise perhaps his most famous concept: the theory that we were stepping into the era of “hyperreality”.

In the 1990s, Baudrillard turned his attention to the effects of AI, in ways which help us grasp its pervasive rise in our age, and the gradual vanishing of reality that we now face more acutely with each passing day.

To readers of Baudrillard, the recent case of the AI “actor” Tilly Norwood, an apparently logical step in the development of simulations and other deepfakes, seems entirely in keeping with his view of the hyperreal world.

Baudrillard considered AI a prosthetic, the mental equivalent of artificial limbs, heart valves, contact lenses or surgical beauty enhancements. As he explains in his books The Transparency of Evil (1990) and The Perfect Crime (1995) its job is to make us think better – or to do our thinking for us.

But he was convinced that all it really does is enable us to experience the “spectacle of thought” rather than engaging in thought itself. Doing so means we can put off thinking forever. And, for Baudrillard, it followed that immersing ourselves in AI equated to giving up our freedom.

This is why Baudrillard thought digital culture hastened the “disappearance” of human beings. He didn’t mean literally, nor that we would become forcibly enslaved the way people are in The Matrix. Instead, outsourcing our intelligence to the machine meant that we “exorcise” our humanness.

Ultimately, though, he knew that the danger of sacrificing our humanness to a machine is not created by the technology itself, but how we relate to it. We are increasingly turning to large language models like ChatGPT to make decisions for us, as if the interface is an oracle or a personal advisor.

The worst effects of this dependence are when people fall in love with an AI, experience AI-induced psychosis, or are encouraged to kill themselves by a chatbot.

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Sex machina: in the wild west world of human-AI relationships, the lonely and vulnerable are most at risk

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No doubt the humanised presentation of AI chatbots, the choice of a name like Claude or its presentation as a “companion” doesn’t help. But Baudrillard felt the problem was not so much the technology itself as our willingness to cede reality to it.

Falling in love with an AI avatar or surrendering decision-making to it is a human flaw not a machine flaw. But it’s essentially the same thing. The increasing bizarreness of Elon Musk’s bot Grok’s behaviour can be explained by the fact that it has real-time access to information (opinions, claims, conspiracies) circulating on X, the platform into which it is integrated.

Just as human beings are being shaped by our engagement with AI, so AI is being transformed by its users. The technological developments of the 1990s, Baudrillard thought, meant the question “am I human or machine?” was already becoming impossible to answer.

He was always confident, however, that there was one distinction which would remain in place. AI could never take pleasure in its operations the way the human being – in love, music, or sport, for example – can enjoy going through the motions of being human. But this is one prediction which may yet be proved wrong. “I may be AI-generated”, Tilly Norwood declared in the Facebook post which introduced her to the public, “but I feel real emotions”.

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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. How the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard predicted today’s AI 30 years before ChatGPT – https://theconversation.com/how-the-french-philosopher-jean-baudrillard-predicted-todays-ai-30-years-before-chatgpt-267372

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Steven David Pickering, Honorary Professor, International Relations, Brunel University of London

New survey evidence from the UK and Japan shows people are open to MPs using AI as a tool, but deeply resistant to handing over democratic decisions to machines.

Artificial intelligence is creeping into every corner of life and is beginning to become a feature of politics. Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat recently criticised colleagues for using ChatGPT to draft their parliamentary speeches, warning that elected representatives should not outsource their judgment to machines. His comments capture a wider unease. Should AI have a place in democratic decision-making?

Supporters of AI in parliament argue it could help MPs cope with the flood of legislation, public submissions and policy documents they have to deal with in their work. But critics worry that over-reliance on AI may undermine accountability and public trust.

In our new research, our TrustTracker team surveyed people in the UK and Japan to see where they drew the line on the use of AI among the people who represent them. They were cautiously accepting but were far more comfortable with politicians using AI as a source of advice but not as a replacement for them when making decisions.

In the UK, almost half of our 990 respondents said they did not support at all the idea of MPs even using AI for support. And nearly four in five rejected outright the notion of AI or robots taking decisions in place of parliamentarians.

Our 2,117 Japanese respondents were slightly more open, which we may expect, as Japan has considerable experience of automation and robotics. But they too expressed strong opposition to the idea of delegating decisions to the robots. Support was higher for assistance, but was still cautious.

Younger men were consistently more supportive of AI in politics. Older people and women are more sceptical. And we found that trust matters. People who trust their government are more willing to back AI in supporting MPs.

Our results were also heavily reflective of our participants’ broader attitudes towards AI. People who see AI as beneficial, and who feel confident in using it, were much more supportive. Those who fear AI were strongly opposed.

Curiously, ideology also plays a role, but in opposing ways. In the UK, people on the political right are more supportive of AI in parliament. In Japan, it is people on the left who express more openness.

Public tolerance for the use of AI in politics exists, but with limits. Citizens want their representatives to use new tools wisely. They do not want to hand over the reins to machines.

That distinction between assistance and delegation is key. AI can make parliaments more efficient, helping MPs sift through evidence, draft better questions, or simulate the outcomes of policy choices. But if citizens feel that AI is replacing human judgment, support evaporates.

For parliaments, which are institutions that depend on trust and legitimacy, this is a red flag. Public wariness could quickly turn into backlash if reforms outpace public consent.

National contrasts

The cross-national comparison is interesting. Japan has a cultural openness to robotics and automation. Concepts like Society 5.0 frame AI as part of a positive national future. Yet even here, people draw a line when it comes to political decision-making. In the UK, debates tend to be framed in terms of ethics and accountability. British respondents are generally more cautious, but also more polarised by ideology.

Taken together, these cases show that public opinion does not simply mirror cultural stereotypes. Support is conditional, context-specific, and tied to wider trust in politics.

AI is coming to politics whether we like it or not. Used carefully, it could help parliaments work better, faster and more transparently. Used carelessly, it could erode trust and legitimacy at the heart of democracy. In other words: AI can advise, but it cannot rule.

Steven David Pickering receives funding from the ESRC (grant reference ES/W011913/1) and the JSPS (grant reference JPJSJRP 20211704).

– ref. Is it ok for politicians to use AI? Survey shows where the public draws the line – https://theconversation.com/is-it-ok-for-politicians-to-use-ai-survey-shows-where-the-public-draws-the-line-268728

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dhritiraj Sengupta, Visiting Researcher, University of Southampton

The coastlines I trace resemble logos and luxury icons: palms, crescents, pixelated grids, surreal ornaments etched into shallow seas. The cartography is striking. The environmental consequences are very concerning.

There is an urgent need to evaluate the negative effects and risks associated with these artificial structures around the world, especially as climate change makes sea-level rise more extreme.

For ten years, I have been tracking changing coastlines and trying to map the spread of artificial coastal developments. But this is difficult for two reasons.

First, it’s tricky to define what counts as reclamation and what doesn’t. Does a polder (a piece of low-lying land reclaimed from the sea) belong in the same category as a luxury island? Do sea walls belong in the same category as “dredge-and-fill peninsulas” (land created by digging sand from a seabed or river banks that is used to fill an area of water).

Second, at a global scale, constantly updating maps with rapidly changing unnatural boundary designs is a never-ending task, which involves extracting data from satellite images.

The geometry of reclaimed sites and artificial shorelines can seem bizarre – ranging from the leafed fronds of Ocean Flower Island in Hainan, China, to perfect crescents in Durrat Al Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, and straight-edged lattices in Lagos, Nigeria. In most cases, they are designed to look appealing without much consideration of ocean health or storm resilience.

Sharp angles interrupt longshore drift. Features such as headlands, jetties or bends in the coastline block or redirect the flow of sand moved by waves. This causes sand to build up in some areas while leaving other beaches with less sand, leading to erosion.

With artificial coastlines, these effects are amplified – a particular problem in places without the financial means to manage their beaches.

Grid-like canals slice tidal flats into disjointed basins. On maps, the lines are neat – but in reality, they produce messy hydrodynamics and fragmented ecosystems.

Such misplaced “neatness” can have far-reaching consequences. Reclamation destroys mangroves, muddy tidal flats and seagrass meadows – ecosystems which act both as valuable stores of atmospheric carbon and fish nurseries.

Dredging also stirs up sediment which clouds the water downstream, making it harder for coral reefs to survive. This compounds climate stress, acting as a threat multiplier. Most of the artificial coastlines aren’t as resilient to extreme weather as they could be.

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New islands are being built at sea – but they won’t help millions made homeless by sea-level rise

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Human-made coastal changes disturb natural water flow, often leading to poor water quality, floods and erosion. Coastal communities can lose their fishing grounds and safe landing beaches. Without protective natural ecosystems acting as a buffer against extreme weather, often the poorest coastal communities bear the greatest impacts from coastal erosion and sea-level rise.

There’s also a carbon cost to this type of coastal development. Dredgers, quarrying, cement and machinery all stack up emissions. Add in the lost carbon storage from destroyed wetlands, and reclamation becomes a climate double blow.

How maps become bridges to action

Maps reveal where, when and how much development is occurring. They can become bridges to action if this research into shoreline change is combined with biodiversity surveys (to assess marine life), hydrodynamic modelling (changes to currents) and social impact assessments (how coastal communities are affected).

In my view, environmental impact assessments should look beyond short-term, single-project effects, and consider how multiple projects collectively affect ecosystems over time. Construction approvals should depend not only on each project’s immediate footprint, but on how it will perform across its entire lifetime – for example, how much flood risk it creates and how much carbon it emits or saves.

Using a mix of tools to engage diverse groups – including local communities, policymakers, scientists and educators – can strengthen understanding and action on coastal change. Examples include holding workshops on the interpretation of satellite-derived data and visualisations, creating interactive StoryMaps (digital storybooks using maps, pictures and text to explain a topic), as well as community-driven mapping.

Many coastal and fishing communities located around reclamation sites – who previously had direct access to the coast – are now calling to halt further reclamation. By documenting lost ecosystems, tracing flood pathways and highlighting human stories behind coastal change, we can better understand how vulnerable coastal communities are to land reclamation.

Some damage is irreversible. Natural coastlines are not just scenic – they are self-maintaining, shock-absorbing, carbon-storing infrastructure. A moratorium on new reclamation throughout the world is needed – and a pivot to restoration by rebuilding lost mangroves, protecting tidal creeks and removing “hard edges” where possible.

Mapping alone will not stop coastal development. But it can catalyse coalitions, inform policy, expose hidden costs and redirect finance. It can turn a line on a screen into a line in the sand.

I began my research by trying to define reclamation precisely enough to classify it. But it has revealed a more urgent task: to defend what remains of the natural coastline, and restore what we still can.

The coastline is not a canvas for our extravagant signatures. When protected, it is nature’s living margin which sustains us.

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Dhritiraj Sengupta receives funding from the Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC , 2016-2020) and from Leverhulme Trust Funding for the project on “Unnatural dynamics of flood deposits in built environments”, plus volunteers for International Geographical Union (https://igu-coast.org/steering-committee/) and is a fellow of the Future Earth Coast (https://www.futureearthcoasts.org/biography/dr-dhritiraj-sengupta/).

– ref. Artificial developments weaken coastal resilience – here’s how mapping them can help – https://theconversation.com/artificial-developments-weaken-coastal-resilience-heres-how-mapping-them-can-help-250299