Category: The Conversation

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It’s more than OK for kids to be bored − it’s good for them

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Margaret Murray, Associate Professor of Public Communication and Culture Studies, University of Michigan-Dearborn

When children experience boredom, it can result in a brain boost that can push them to explore new activities. Richard Lewisohn/Connect Images via Getty Images

Boredom is a common part of life, across time and around the world. That’s because boredom serves a useful purpose: It motivates people to pursue new goals and challenges.

I’m a professor who studies communication and culture. I am currently writing a book about modern parenting, and I’ve noticed that many parents try to help their kids avoid boredom. They might see it as a negative emotion that they don’t want their children to experience. Or they might steer them into doing something that they see as more productive.

There are various reasons they want to prevent their children from being bored. Many parents are busy with work. They’re stressed about money, child care responsibilities and managing other parts of daily life. Making sure a child is occupied with a game, a TV show or an arts and crafts project at home can help parents work uninterrupted, or make dinner, without their children complaining that they are bored.

Parents may also feel pressure for their children to succeed, whether that means getting admitted to a selective school, or becoming a good athlete or an accomplished musician.

Children also spend less time playing freely outside and more time participating in structured activities than they did a few decades ago.

Easy access to screens has made it possible to avoid boredom more than ever before.

Many parents needed to put their children in front of screens throughout the pandemic to keep them occupied during work hours. More recently, some parents have reported feeling social pressure to use screens to keep children quiet in public spaces.

That is to say, there are various reasons why parents shy away from their kids being bored. But before striving to eliminate boredom completely, it’s important to know the benefits of boredom.

A young girl with dark hair lays on her stomach on a couch with her arms and legs splayed out.
Even very young children could benefit from experiencing boredom in short spurts.
Oscar Wong/Moment via Getty Images

Benefits of boredom

Although boredom feels bad to experience in the moment, it offers real benefits for personal growth.

Boredom is a signal that a change is needed, whether it be a change in scenery, activity or company. Psychologists have found that the experience of boredom can lead to discovering new goals and trying new activities.

Harvard public and nonprofit leadership professor Arthur Brooks has found that boredom is necessary for reflection. Downtime leaves room to ask the big questions in life and find meaning.

Children who are rarely bored could become adults who cannot cope with boredom. Boredom also offers a brain boost that can cultivate a child’s innate curiosity and creativity.

Learning to manage boredom and other negative emotions is an important life skill. When children manage their own time, it can help them develop executive function, which includes the ability to set goals and make plans.

The benefits of boredom make sense from an evolutionary perspective. Boredom is extremely common. It affects all ages, genders and cultures, and teens are especially prone to boredom. Natural selection favors traits that offer a leg up, so it is unlikely that boredom would be so prevalent if it did not deliver some advantages.

Parents should be wary of treating boredom as a problem they must solve for their children. Psychologists have found that college students with overly involved parents suffer from more depression.

Other research shows that young children who were given screens to help them calm down were less equipped to regulate their emotions as they got older.

Boredom is uncomfortable

Tolerating boredom is a skill that many children resist learning or do not have the opportunity to develop. Even many adults would rather shock themselves with electricity than experience boredom.

It takes practice to learn how to handle boredom. Start with small doses of boredom and work up to longer stretches of unstructured time. Tips for parents include getting kids outside, suggesting a new game or recipe, or simply resting. Creating space for boredom means that there will be some stretches of time when nothing in particular is happening.

Younger children might need ideas for what they could do when bored. Parents do not need to play with them every time they are bored, but offering suggestions is helpful. Even five minutes of boredom is a good start for the youngest children.

Encouraging older children to solve the problem of boredom themselves is especially empowering. Let them know that boredom is a normal part of life even though it might feel unpleasant.

It gets easier

Children are adaptable.

As children get used to occasional boredom, it will take them longer to become bored in the future. People find life less boring once they regularly experience boredom.

Letting go of the obligation to keep children entertained could also help parents feel less stressed. Approximately 41% of parents in the U.S. said they “are so stressed they cannot function,” and 48% reported that “most days their stress is completely overwhelming,” according to a report from the U.S. surgeon general in 2024.

So the next time a kid complains, “I’m bored!” don’t feel guilty or frustrated. Boredom is a healthy part of life. It prompts us to be self-directed, find new hobbies and take on new challenges.

Let children know that a little boredom isn’t just OK – in fact, it’s good for them.

The Conversation

Margaret Murray does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. It’s more than OK for kids to be bored − it’s good for them – https://theconversation.com/its-more-than-ok-for-kids-to-be-bored-its-good-for-them-268826

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Why are some Black conservatives drawn to Nick Fuentes?

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By George Michael, Professor of Criminal Justice, Westfield State University

Nick Fuentes believes that the country’s identity depends on preserving its white majority. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Far-right activist Nick Fuentes continues to gain momentum.

The openly racist and antisemitic podcaster has emerged as an influential figure on the American political right. Recent profiles in The Atlantic and The New York Times have elevated the 27-year-old into practically a household name.

But as a scholar of the American right, I’ve been fascinated by one aspect of Fuentes’ rise: the way some Black podcast hosts and political influencers have been receptive to some of his views.

“Isn’t that amazing?” Black pastor and radio host Jesse Lee Peterson gushed after hosting Fuentes on his show in 2023. “Finally, a white man standing up for what is right. And you heard him say it – he hate no one.”

At first blush, this might sound counterintuitive. Fuentes champions a racist vision of national populism. He has promoted the idea that the country’s identity depends on preserving its white majority. In the past, he’s defended Jim Crow, the segregationist legal regime that governed the South from the late-19th century to the 1960s, arguing that segregation was better for both Black and white Americans. He’s openly disavowed miscegenation, and castigated Vice President JD Vance for marrying an Indian woman and fathering mixed-race children.

Black people and white nationalists, however, have joined forces in the past. And a number of cultural and political shifts have broadened Fuentes’ appeal to Americans of all races.

Finding common ground

In the 20th century, Black and white nationalists were able to find common ground on the topic of racial separatism.

Marcus Garvey, a leading proponent of the back-to-Africa movement in the 1920s, and Elijah Muhammad, the former leader of the Nation of Islam, saw white nationalists as kindred spirits.

Garvey envisaged a new nation built by the descendants of African slaves. To him, the ostensible racism of the Ku Klux Klan helped drive home his message that the U.S. would never be a place that could incorporate Black people as equals. In 1922, he met with Edward Young Clarke, the Klan’s acting leader. Garvey later explained how the two shared the same vision: Clarke “believes America to be a white man’s country, and also states that the Negro should have a country of his own in Africa.”

Meanwhile, Muhammad embraced the idea of Black superiority.

In George Lincoln Rockwell, the leader of the American Nazi Party from 1959 to 1967, Muhammad saw a white man who may have disagreed about which race was superior but was nonetheless serious about carving out a territory somewhere in the U.S. to build a separate Black nation. Even though Rockwell spoke of Black people as a “primitive race” and had organized a “hate tour,” Muhammad invited him to speak at the Nation of Islam summit in 1962. To Muhammad, they both had the same goal: separation of the races.

Uniting in opposition to Israel

Importantly, among both Black nationalists and white nationalists, race mixing was often cast in an antisemitic framework, with Jews accused of spurring racial integration. Rockwell claimed Jewish communists were behind the Civil Rights Movement, while the Nation of Islam published a pseudo-historical book in 1991 claiming that Jews were responsible for the transatlantic slave trade.

Today, antizionism and antisemitism are where Fuentes and some Black conservatives appear to have found common ground.

Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s ensuing annihilation of Gaza have destabilized politics not only in the Middle East but also in the U.S.

Historically, the mainstream media in the U.S. has championed Israel, while both of the country’s major political parties have backed Israel financially and militarily.

However, due to a number of factors – including Americans’ widespread exposure on social media to the destruction of Gaza, the growing diversity of the U.S. and its ballooning debt – cracks in this uniform support have emerged.

Fuentes routinely implicates a “Jewish oligarchy” as the source of many problems that bedevil the world today, and his strident denunciation of Israel and the larger Jewish community has endeared him to antisemites and anti-Israel factions on the right, and this includes some Black Americans.

Take Myron Gaines, an internet personality who founded the “Fresh and Fit Podcast” in 2020. Born in Brooklyn, Gaines is of Sudanese descent and was raised as a Muslim. Originally, his podcast focused on issues related to the manosphere, a largely online movement that champions masculinity and opposes feminism.

But since the Oct. 7 attacks, Gaines became a vociferous critic of Israel, claiming “Zionist fingerprints” were “all over” the 9/11 attacks and JFK’s assassination. On this issue, he found common ground with Fuentes, who has frequently appeared as a guest on his program. On occasion, Andrew Tate, a popular British biracial social media personality, has joined them for discussions.

All three share an antisemitic worldview – promoting, at various points, the notion of Jewish control of finance, media and governments – with a pronounced misogynist streak.

Then there are the Hodgetwins, Keith and Kevin Hodge. The Black twin brothers launched their podcast in 2008 and now boast an estimated 2 million followers. They’ve recently interviewed a range of antisemitic guests on their program, including Fuentes, David Duke, Leonarda Jonie and Stew Peters.

In July 2025, Candace Owens hosted Nick Fuentes for a two-hour interview on her podcast. They had traded barbs in the past, but they had also, at times, praised each other. When Owens was fired from The Daily Wire for her criticism of Israel in 2024, Fuentes instructed his supporters to “stand with Candace.”

During the July 2025 interview, there were some tense moments: Owens needled Fuentes over why he hadn’t married and started a family. She also objected to his belief that race determined a person’s abilities and to his claim that Black civilization was inherently inferior. But the tone was generally cordial, and they agreed that the pro-Israel lobby had an outsized influence on American politics.

Race is becoming less black and white

There’s also a broader cultural shift at play: Racial identity is becoming increasingly fluid.

As political scientist Eric Kaufmann argued in his 2019 book, “Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration and the Future of White Majorities,” America may be becoming more racially diverse, but this doesn’t necessarily portend a politics of racial liberalism.

Instead, he argues that those with multiracial backgrounds will tend to identify – and be identified – with the largest and most socially dominant racial group. In other words, a significant number of multiracial Americans will “airbrush” their polyglot lineage and instead focus on their European provenance. As racial boundaries become more fluid, more people of multiracial heritage may come to culturally and politically identify as white.

Just as President Donald Trump was able to draw a higher share of Black and Latino voters than any GOP presidential candidate in recent memory, Fuentes has been able to connect with nonwhite audiences. And just as Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the right-wing, anti-immigrant Oath Keepers, is part Hispanic, the former leader of the “Western chauvinist” Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, is Afro-Cuban American.

Fuentes himself reflects this trend. He acknowledges his Mexican ancestry – from his paternal grandfather – and yet remains an unapologetic white nationalist, calling for “total Aryan victory.”

Black podcasters may be amenable to Fuentes due to the country’s racial reality. Any program of forced racial expulsion and separation simply doesn’t seem feasible in contemporary, multiracial America.

Fuentes seems to recognize this; in fact, he recently called for a united populist front to include the political left. He urged leftists to jettison their advocacy of open borders and wokeism. Meanwhile, he’s counseled the political right to abandon its reverence for the free market.

Perhaps Fuentes favors a form of national socialism not unlike the kind that emerged in fascist Germany and Italy. But for Gen Zers who are experiencing economic uncertainty and social isolation, such a program can sound attractive – no matter their race.

The Conversation

George Michael does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why are some Black conservatives drawn to Nick Fuentes? – https://theconversation.com/why-are-some-black-conservatives-drawn-to-nick-fuentes-270437

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Medieval peasants probably enjoyed their holiday festivities more than you do

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Bobbi Sutherland, Associate Professor, Department of HIstory, University of Dayton

Winter in a peasant village, painted by the Limbourg brothers and published in the medieval illuminated manuscript ‘Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.’ Pierce Archive LLC/Buyenlarge via Getty Images

When people think of the European Middle Ages, it often brings to mind grinding poverty, superstition and darkness. But the reality of the 1,000-year period from 500 to 1500 was much more complex. This is especially true when considering the peasants, who made up about 90% of the population.

For all their hard work, peasants had a fair amount of downtime. Add up Sundays and the many holidays, and about one-third of the year was free of intensive work. Celebrations were frequent and centered around religious holidays like Easter, Pentecost and saints’ days.

But the longest and most festive of these holidays was Christmas.

As a professor of medieval history, I can assure you the popular belief that the lives of peasants were little more than misery is a misconception. They enjoyed rich social lives – maybe richer than ours – ate well, celebrated frequently and had families not unlike our own. For them, holiday festivities didn’t begin with Christmas Eve and end with New Year’s.

The party was just getting started.

Daily life in a peasant village

A peasant was not simply a low-class or poor person. Rather, a peasant was a subsistence farmer who owed their lords a portion of the food they grew. They also provided labor, which might include bridge-building or farming the lord’s land.

In return, a lord provided his peasants with protection from bandits or invaders. They also provided justice via a court system and punished people for theft, murder and other crimes. Typically, the lord lived in the village or nearby.

Peasants lived in the countryside, in villages that ranged from a few houses to several hundred. The villages had communal ovens, wells, flour mills, brewers or pubs, and blacksmiths. The houses were clustered in the center of the village along a dirt street and surrounded by farmland.

A photo of a primitive stone house with a thatched roof.
A 14th-century thatched cottage in what is now West Sussex, England.
David C. Tomlinson/The Image Bank via Getty Images

By today’s standards, a peasant’s house was small – in England, the average was around 700 square feet (65 square meters). Houses might be made of turf, wood, stone or “waddle-and-daub,” a construction very similar to lathe and plaster, with beamed roofs covered in straw. Houses had front doors, and some had back doors. Windows were covered with shutters and, rarely, glass. Aside from the fireplace, only the Sun, Moon or an oil lamp or candle provided light.

Strange sleep habits and sex without privacy

The day was dictated by seasons and sunlight. Most people rose at dawn or a bit before; men went out to their fields soon after to grow grains like wheat and barley. Women worked in the home and yard, taking care of children, animals and vegetable gardens, along with the spinning, sewing and cooking. Peasants didn’t have clocks, so a recipe might recommend cooking something for the time it took to say the Lord’s Prayer three times.

Around midday, people usually took a break and ate their largest meal – often a soup or stew. The foods they ate could include lamb and beef, along with cheese, cabbage, onions, leeks, turnips and fava beans. Fish, in particular freshwater fish, were also popular. Every meal included bread.

A historical photo shows peasants dancing around a tree.
15th-century peasants in France celebrate May Day.
Hulton Archives via Getty Images

Beer and wine were major components of the meal. By our standards, peasants drank a lot, although the alcohol content of the beer and wine was lower than today’s versions. They often napped before returning to work. In the evening, they ate a light meal, perhaps only bread, and socialized for a while.

They went to bed within a few hours of darkness, so how long they slept depended on the season. On average, they slept about eight hours, but not consecutively. They awoke after a “first sleep” and prayed, had sex or chatted with neighbors for somewhere between half an hour and two hours, then returned to sleep for another four hours or so.

Peasants did not have privacy as we think of it; everyone often slept in one big room. Parents made love with one another as their children slept nearby. Married couples shared a bed, and one of their younger children might sleep with them, though infants had cradles. Older children likely slept two to a bed.

A colorful illustration of a musician playing an instrument before a small audience.
A musician entertains a group of peasant farmers.
duncan1890/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

Dreaming of a medieval Christmas

Life certainly wasn’t easy. But the stretches of time for rest and leisure were enviable.

Today, many people start thinking about Christmas after Thanksgiving, and any sort of holiday spirit fizzles by early January.

In the Middle Ages, this would have been unheard of.

Advent – the period of anticipation and fasting that precedes Christmas – began with the Feast of St. Martin.

Back then, it took place 40 days before Christmas; today, it’s the fourth Sunday before it. During this period, Western Christians observed a fast; while less strict than the one for Lent, it restricted meat and dairy products to certain days of the week. These protocols not only symbolized absence and longing, but they also helped stretch out the food supply after the end of the harvest and before meats were fully cured.

Christmas itself was known for feasting and drunkenness – and it lasted nearly six weeks.

Dec. 25 was followed by the 12 Days of Christmas, ending with the Epiphany on Jan. 6, which commemorates the visit of the Magi to Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Gifts, often in the form of food or money, were exchanged, though this was more commonly done on New Year’s Day. Game birds, ham, mince pies and spiced wines were popular fare, with spices thought to help warm the body.

Though Christmas officially celebrates the birth of Jesus, it was clearly associated with pre-Christian celebrations that emphasized the winter solstice and the return of light and life. This meant that bonfires, yule logs and evergreen decorations were part of the festivities. According to tradition, St. Francis of Assisi created the first nativity scene in 1223.

Christmas ended slowly, with the first Monday after Epiphany being called “Plough Monday” because it marked the return to agricultural work. The full end of the season came on Feb. 2 – called Candlemas – which coincides with the older pagan holiday of Imbolc. On this day, candles were blessed for use in the coming year, and any decorations left up were thought to be at risk of becoming infested with goblins.

Many people today gripe about the stresses of the holidays: buying presents, traveling, cooking, cleaning and bouncing from one obligation to the next. There’s a short window to get it all done: Christmas Day is the only day many workplaces are required to give off.

Meanwhile, I’ll be dreaming of a medieval Christmas.

The Conversation

Bobbi Sutherland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Medieval peasants probably enjoyed their holiday festivities more than you do – https://theconversation.com/medieval-peasants-probably-enjoyed-their-holiday-festivities-more-than-you-do-241328

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De TikTok aux bars à loutres au Japon, comment les réseaux sociaux profitent du mal-être des animaux sauvages

Source: The Conversation – France (in French) – By Margot Michaud, Enseignante-chercheuse en biologie évolutive et anatomie , UniLaSalle

En Asie, on peut cajoler des loutres cendrées (_Aonyx cinereus_) dans des cafés qui leur sont consacrés. Mais qu’en est-il du bien-être de ces animaux sauvages qui se voient piégés dans des environnements inadaptés à leurs besoins fondamentaux ? Sara Hoummady/UniLaSalle, Fourni par l’auteur

Sur les réseaux sociaux, la popularité des animaux exotiques va de pair avec la banalisation de leur mauvais traitement. Ces plateformes monétisent la possession d’espèces sauvages tout en invisibilisant leur souffrance. Cette tendance nourrit une méprise courante selon laquelle l’apprivoisement serait comparable à la domestication. Il n’en est rien, comme le montre l’exemple des loutres de compagnie au Japon.

Singes nourris au biberon, perroquets dressés pour les selfies, félins obèses exhibés devant les caméras… Sur TikTok, Instagram ou YouTube, ces mises en scène présentent des espèces sauvages comme des animaux de compagnie, notamment via des hashtags tels que #exoticpetsoftiktok.

Cette tendance virale, favorisée par le fonctionnement même de ces plateformes, normalise l’idée selon laquelle un animal non domestiqué pourrait vivre comme un chat ou un chien, à nos côtés. Dans certains pays, posséder un animal exotique est même devenu un symbole ostentatoire de statut social pour une élite fortunée qui les met en scène lors de séances photo « glamour ».

Or, derrière les images attrayantes qui recueillent des milliers de « likes » se dissimule une réalité bien moins séduisante. Ces stars des réseaux sociaux sont des espèces avec des besoins écologiques, sociaux et comportementaux impossibles à satisfaire dans un foyer humain. En banalisant leur possession, ces contenus, d’une part, entretiennent des croyances erronées et, d’autre part, stimulent aussi le trafic illégal. En cela, ils participent à la souffrance de ces animaux et fragilisent la conservation d’espèces sauvages.



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Qui est le capybara, cet étonnant rongeur qui a gagné le cœur des internautes ?

Ne pas confondre domestique et apprivoisé

Pour comprendre les enjeux liés à la possession d’un animal exotique, il faut d’abord définir les termes : qu’est-ce qu’un animal domestique et qu’est-ce qu’un animal exotique  ?

Le manul, ou chat de Pallas, est un petit félin sauvage endémique de la Mongolie, du Kazakhstan, de la Russie, du sud de l’Iran, du Pakistan et du Népal. Malgré son adorable bouille, c’est un animal territorial et solitaire qui peut être agressif.
Sander van der Wel, CC BY-SA

Force est de constater que le terme « animal exotique » est particulièrement ambigu. Même si en France l’arrêté du 11 août 2006 fixe une liste claire des espèces considérées comme domestiques, sa version britannique dresse une liste d’animaux exotiques pour lesquels une licence est requise, à l’exclusion de tous les autres.

Une licence est ainsi requise pour posséder, par exemple, un serval (Leptailurus serval), mais pas pour un hybride de serval et de chat de deuxième génération au moins, ou encore pour détenir un manul, aussi appelé chat de Pallas (Otocolobus manul).

Ce flou sémantique entretient la confusion entre apprivoisement et domestication :

  • le premier consiste à habituer un animal sauvage à la présence humaine (comme des daims nourris en parc) ;

  • la seconde correspond à un long processus de sélection prenant place sur des générations et qui entraîne des changements génétiques, comportementaux et morphologiques.

Chat Savannah (croisement entre un chat domestique et un serval) de première génération.
Flickr Gottawildside, CC BY-NC-ND

Ce processus s’accompagne de ce que les scientifiques appellent le « syndrome de domestication », un ensemble de traits communs (oreilles tombantes, queue recourbée, etc.) déjà décrits par Darwin dès 1869, même si ce concept est désormais remis en question par la communauté scientifique.

Pour le dire plus simplement : un loup élevé par des humains reste un loup apprivoisé et ne devient pas un chien. Ses besoins et ses capacités physiologiques, son comportement et ses aptitudes cognitives restent fondamentalement les mêmes que celles de ces congénères sauvages. Il en va de même pour toutes les autres espèces non domestiques qui envahissent nos écrans.



À lire aussi :
Le chien descend-il vraiment du loup ?

Des animaux stars au destin captif : le cas des loutres d’Asie

Les félins et les primates ont longtemps été les animaux préférés des réseaux sociaux, mais une nouvelle tendance a récemment émergé en Asie : la loutre dite de compagnie.

Parmi les différentes espèces concernées, la loutre cendrée (Aonyx cinereus), particulièrement prisée pour son apparence juvénile, représente la quasi-totalité des annonces de vente en ligne dans cette région. Cela en fait la première victime du commerce clandestin de cette partie du monde, malgré son inscription à l’Annexe I de la Convention sur le commerce international des espèces menacées depuis 2019.

Les cafés à loutres, particulièrement en vogue au Japon, ont largement participé à normaliser cette tendance en les exposant sur les réseaux sociaux comme animaux de compagnie, un phénomène documenté dans un rapport complet de l’ONG World Animal Protection publié en 2019. De même, le cas de Splash, loutre employée par la police pour rechercher des corps en Floride (États-Unis), montre que l’exploitation de ces animaux s’étend désormais au-delà du divertissement.

En milieu naturel, ces animaux passent la majorité de leurs journées à nager et à explorer un territoire qui mesure plus d’une dizaine de kilomètres au sein d’un groupe familial regroupant jusqu’à 12 individus. Recréer ces conditions à domicile est bien entendu impossible. En outre, leur régime, principalement composé de poissons frais, de crustacés et d’amphibiens, est à la fois extrêmement contraignant et coûteux pour leurs propriétaires. Leur métabolisme élevé les oblige en plus à consommer jusqu’à un quart de leur poids corporel chaque jour.

Privés de prédation et souvent nourris avec des aliments pour chats, de nombreux animaux exhibés sur les réseaux développent malnutrition et surpoids. Leur mal-être s’exprime aussi par des vocalisations et des troubles graves du comportement, allant jusqu’à de l’agressivité ou de l’automutilation, et des gestes répétitifs dénués de fonction, appelés « stéréotypies ». Ces comportements sont la conséquence d’un environnement inadapté, sans stimulations cognitives et sociales, quand elles ne sont pas tout simplement privées de lumière naturelle et d’espace aquatique.

Une existence déconnectée des besoins des animaux

Cette proximité n’est pas non plus sans risques pour les êtres humains. Les loutres, tout comme les autres animaux exotiques, peuvent être porteurs de maladies transmissibles à l’humain : salmonellose, parasites ou virus figurent parmi les pathogénies les plus fréquemment signalées. De plus, les soins vétérinaires spécialisés nécessaires pour ces espèces sont rarement accessibles et de ce fait extrêmement coûteux. Rappelons notamment qu’aucun vaccin antirabique n’est homologué pour la majorité des espèces exotiques.

Dans le débat public, on oppose souvent les risques pour l’humain au droit de posséder ces animaux. Mais on oublie l’essentiel : qu’est-ce qui est réellement bon pour l’animal  ? La légitimité des zoos reste débattue malgré leur rôle de conservation et de recherche, mais alors comment justifier des lieux comme les cafés à loutres, où l’on paie pour caresser une espèce sauvage  ?

Depuis 2018, le bien-être animal est défini par l’Union européenne et l’Anses comme :

« Le bien-être d’un animal est l’état mental et physique positif lié à la satisfaction de ses besoins physiologiques et comportementaux, ainsi que de ses attentes. Cet état varie en fonction de la perception de la situation par l’animal. ».

Dès lors, comment parler de bien-être pour un animal en surpoids, filmé dans des situations anxiogènes pour le plaisir de quelques clients ou pour quelques milliers de likes ?

Braconnés pour être exposés en ligne

Bien que la détention d’animaux exotiques soit soumise à une réglementation stricte en France, la fascination suscitée par ces espèces sur les réseaux ne connaît aucune limite géographique. Malgré les messages d’alerte mis en place par TikTok et Instagram sur certains hashtags, l’engagement du public, y compris en Europe, alimente encore la demande mondiale et favorise les captures illégales.

Une étude de 2025 révèle ainsi que la majorité des loutres captives au Japon proviennent de deux zones de braconnage en Thaïlande, mettant au jour un trafic important malgré la législation. En Thaïlande et au Vietnam, de jeunes loutres sont encore capturées et séparées de leurs mères souvent tuées lors du braconnage, en violation des conventions internationales.

Les réseaux sociaux facilitent la mise en relation entre vendeurs et acheteurs mal informés, conduisant fréquemment à l’abandon d’animaux ingérables, voire des évasions involontaires.

Photographie du serval qui a erré dans le département du Rhône pendant plus de six mois en 2025.
© Tonga Terre d’Accueil

Ce phénomène peut également avoir de graves impacts écologiques, comme la perturbation des écosystèmes locaux, la transmission de maladies infectieuses aux populations sauvages et la compétition avec les espèces autochtones pour les ressources.

Récemment en France, le cas d’un serval ayant erré plusieurs mois dans la région lyonnaise illustre cette réalité : l’animal, dont la détention est interdite, aurait probablement été relâché par un particulier.

Quand l’attention profite à la cause

Mais cette visibilité n’a pas que des effets délétères. Les réseaux sociaux offrent ainsi un nouveau levier pour analyser les tendances d’un marché illégal. D’autres initiatives produites par des centres de soins et de réhabilitation ont une vocation pédagogique : elles sensibilisent le public et permettent de financer des actions de protection et de lutte contre le trafic.

Il ne s’agit donc pas de rejeter en bloc la médiatisation autour de la question de ces animaux, mais d’apprendre à en décoder les intentions et les impacts. En définitive, le meilleur moyen d’aider ces espèces reste de soutenir les associations, les chercheurs et les programmes de réintroduction. Et gardons à l’esprit qu’un simple like peut avoir des conséquences, positives ou négatives, selon le contenu que l’on choisit d’encourager.

The Conversation

Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.

– ref. De TikTok aux bars à loutres au Japon, comment les réseaux sociaux profitent du mal-être des animaux sauvages – https://theconversation.com/de-tiktok-aux-bars-a-loutres-au-japon-comment-les-reseaux-sociaux-profitent-du-mal-etre-des-animaux-sauvages-268683

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Young people’s social worlds are ‘thinning’ – here’s how that’s affecting wellbeing

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eamon McCrory, Professor of Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology, UCL

AstroStar/Shutterstock

Between 2014 and 2024, the proportion of people aged 16–24 in England experiencing mental health issues rose from 19% to 26%.

This means over 1.6 million young people – enough to fill Wembley Stadium 18 times over – are affected by mental ill-health today.

Social media is often at the centre of conversations about what’s driving this trend. But while our increasingly digital lives are part of the story, the bigger picture is more complex. Young people are arguably spending more time online partly because the real world has less and less to offer them.

At the heart of their declining wellbeing is the hollowing out of the real-world infrastructure that supports healthy social development, with social lives becoming increasingly fragile and “thinned”.

This “social thinning”, a term we developed in research exploring trauma, includes fewer opportunities to play, take risks and build supportive relationships. This thinning, we believe, has worrying implications for development and mental health.

One of us (Eamon McCrory) is a neuroscientist who has spent years studying risk and resilience and brain systems that develop across adolescence. During this period, the brain refines the systems that help us understand others, form a clear sense of self and regulate our emotions.

Teenagers are wired to explore friendships, navigate complex social groups and practice handling conflict and rejection. These experiences help young people develop agency and independence.

But developing these abilities depends on spending time in a wide range of real social environments with different kinds of relationships, from casual interactions to close friendships.

When chances to practise these skills shrink, it can lead to loneliness and consequences for development. It can become harder to trust others, feel connected to peers or manage strong emotions.

For example, one study used the pandemic as an opportunity to test the effect of a significant reduction in social connections between teenagers. The researchers found that trust was low in adolescents during lockdown, and this in turn was associated with high levels of stress.

In other words, the evidence points to deprivation of social connection as having developmental consequences, and over time, an increased risk of mental health difficulties.

Thinning social worlds

The real-world experiences that support these crucial neurological processes have been steadily declining. Between 2011 and 2023, over 1,200 council-run youth centres in England and Wales closed, and £1.2 billion has been stripped from youth service budgets since 2010 in England. Meanwhile, parks and open spaces have suffered from underinvestment.

Dilapidated goal in park
Investment in youth services has shrunk.
Knights Lane/Shutterstock

Cultural shifts have also had an impact. It has been suggested that fears about safety and a desire to minimise risks for their children have produced a “risk-averse” parenting culture. In schools, rising academic pressures and an emphasis on achievement have come at the expense of play and exploration.

Research suggests that children today have significantly less freedom to roam, play outdoors, or gather with peers than previous generations.

The environments in which young people can explore, fail safely and develop social mastery have been radically narrowed. It is into an already thinning social ecosystem that digital platforms enter.

Digital help and harm

Despite many arguments to the contrary, digital spaces are not inherently harmful. They can offer connection, self-expression and community.

This can be particularly true for those marginalised offline, with research suggesting social media can actually support the mental health and wellbeing of young LGBTQ people. Our online and offline lives are deeply intertwined, with online connections often allowing us to deepen existing relationships.

The problem is less that young people are online, and more that online life has rushed in to fill the gaps left by a shrinking offline world.

Moreover, digital platforms are built for profit, not development. Young people are shaping their identities, sense of belonging and social status within systems designed to drive constant engagement – a phenomenon which is only accelerating with the advent of AI.

Social media platforms encourage comparison, performance and rapid responses. More broadly, the digital world can pull attention away from the real world and place young people under persistent pressure. It can also affect how – across a formative period of development – they make sense of themselves and the world around them.

Solid foundations in a digital world

There is growing recognition that preventing mental ill health means investing in the social foundations of childhood. McCrory is the chief executive of the mental health charity Anna Freud, which is making a significant shift towards prevention: prioritising building strengths,reducing risks and supporting wellbeing before problems become entrenched. And, of course, positive relationships are the cornerstone of healthy development.

To reverse rising rates of mental ill health, we need to reimagine and invest in the social scaffolding that supports healthy development, ensuring children and young people grow up in socially rich environments. This requires serious investment in youth services, outdoor spaces and community infrastructure.

Schools need more time for play, creativity and extracurricular activities, not just academic performance. Families need support to create shared experiences, from outdoor play to community participation.

Digital platforms are now part of everyday life, but they must complement rather than replace experiences in the physical world. By enriching, not thinning, young people’s social worlds and giving them places and relationships that build trust, foster agency and support connection, we can strengthen the foundations for lifelong wellbeing.

The Conversation

Eamon McCrory is affiliated with UCL (Professor of Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology) and Anna Freud (CEO)

Ritika Chokhani is currently the recipient of a PhD studentship funded by the Wellcome Trust, focusing on similar research areas.

– ref. Young people’s social worlds are ‘thinning’ – here’s how that’s affecting wellbeing – https://theconversation.com/young-peoples-social-worlds-are-thinning-heres-how-thats-affecting-wellbeing-272111

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Pimple patches have hidden our blemishes for hundreds of years – historian explains

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sara Read, Lecturer in English, Loughborough University

Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches, painter unknown (circa 1650). Compton Verney Art Gallery/Canva

You may have noticed people out and about with little stickers on their faces. Perhaps you’ve seen moons, stars, clouds or even smiley faces adorning people’s cheeks and chins. Maybe you wear them yourself. While some people do wear them as accessories, these colourful stickers are medicated “pimple patches”, designed to treat spots or acne.

Some of the patches simply contain a gel formula, which keeps the emerging blemish moist to aid healing. Some wearers opt for near-transparent film patches to get the benefit in a more inconspicuous way.

Far from a new fad, beauty patches have a long history. The trend first took off in 17th-century Europe, with patches made from paper, silk or velvet, or even fine leather, cut into lozenge shapes, stars or crescent moons.

They could be made in many colours, but black was generally preferred as it made a stark contrast to the idealised pale face of western upper-class men and women, who saw this complexion as a status symbol, showing they did not go outdoors to work. The play Blurt, Master-Constable from 1602 explains another appeal of the patches – when well applied, they could “draw men’s eyes to shoot glances at you”.

Mentions of patches occur regularly in print from the late 16th and early 17th century. Just like today, beauty patches had a dual function. In his 1601 play Jack Drum’s Entertainment, John Marston explains that: “Black patches are worn, some for pride, some to stay the rheum, and some to hide the scab.”

So, some were worn by people wanting to make themselves seem more attractive, and some – sometimes medicated – were used to dry up sores. Some patches were used to conceal blemishes like the scars left by diseases such as smallpox or even syphilis.

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This latter use was the reason moralists took issue with patches. One anonymous book from 1665 claimed a chaplain of King Charles I had given a sermon comparing beauty patches to the biblical mark of Cain. It is reported that he went so far as to suggest that wearing these accessories invited plague epidemics: “black-patches and beauty-spots … were Forerunners of other Spots, and Marks of the Plague”.

Other moralists focused on how, just like makeup, their job was to conceal and present a false front, which could trick admirers. This was a criticism that took on more weight into the 18th century, when people linked the use of patches to sexual promiscuity.

A Harlot’s Progress by William Hogarth (1731) is a series of images depicting the fall of a country girl, Moll Hackabout. Newly arrived in London, she is tricked by the real life brothelkeeper Elizabeth Needham. Needham’s face is covered with black patches.

Civil servant Samuel Pepys makes over a dozen mentions of these patches in his diary between 1660 and 1669. He first encountered “two very pretty ladies, very fashionable and with black patches, who very merrily sang all the way” on a business trip to the Hague in spring 1660.

The next day on a stroll through town, he noted how: “Everybody of fashion speaks French or Latin, or both. The women many of them very pretty and in good habits, fashionable and black spots.”

He noted that patches were often moistened with spit to hold them on. In May 1668, he recalled seeing Lady Castlemayne – mistress to Charles II – demanding a patch from the face of her maid, wetting it in her mouth and applying it to the side of her own face. We know from Pepys that James, Duke of York also favoured a patch or two.

By August that same year, Pepys noted in a diary entry that his wife Elisabeth was sporting black patches to a christening. Yet he seemed to have forgotten this when he noted in November that: “My wife seemed very pretty to-day, it being the first time I had given her leave to wear a black patch.” He sported a patch himself in September 1664 when he woke with a scabby mouth.

The fashion for wearing patches rose higher in the Restoration era (1660-1700), when returning royalist exiles from the Commonwealth brought home French fashions that they considered the height of sophistication.

English writer Mary Evelyn explained that mouches was the fashionable French name for “Flies, or, Black Patches”, since patches were called “flies” in French and sometimes in English too. Evelyn’s poem The Ladies Dressing-Room Unlock’d, published posthumously in 1690, was a biting satire on the Francophile fashions of Restoration London that Evelyn thought only the vulgar would indulge in.

While it is hard to see how people wearing spot patches nowadays might be subject to the same sorts of moralising backlash seen in the past, there are corners of the internet that mock people for going out in public with visible spot patches.

Whether they work or not, pimple patches are a harmless accessory. From the late 17th century, books begin to refer to patch boxes, ornate little containers specifically designed to hold patches.

Fashionable types came to like to be seen carrying a little silver box especially designed to hold their velvet or silk patches. Perhaps this will be the next development in the modern pimple patch craze.

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The Conversation

Sara Read 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. Pimple patches have hidden our blemishes for hundreds of years – historian explains – https://theconversation.com/pimple-patches-have-hidden-our-blemishes-for-hundreds-of-years-historian-explains-271013

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How climate campaigns can cut through ad fatigue

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sayed Elhoushy, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Queen Mary University of London

Posters at Southwark station in London ‘advertise’ fossil fuels – an example of clear and meaningful messaging. Badvertising, CC BY-NC-ND

Since November 2025, commuters at Southwark tube station in London have been passing walls lined with vintage-style posters parodying oil and gas advertising, instead of ads promoting flights or energy companies. One 1950s-style poster shows a woman holding a small yellow aeroplane as if it were a cigarette; another has the slogan: For a quicker climate crisis use … Fossil Ads.

This visibility and attention to the climate crisis is welcome. But with more campaigns competing for attention – often with conflicting messages – the effect can quickly become overwhelming. Messages designed to raise awareness or inspire action also trigger ad fatigue.

Ad fatigue is well recognised in marketing: when people encounter the same message too often, it loses impact. A growing body of research shows that repeated exposure to similar advertising messages has negative consequences within and beyond climate contexts. Climate ad fatigue refers to a decline in effectiveness when people become overexposed to climate-related messages.

Researchers like me are investigating how certain climate messages create fatigue. One study shows that people who already feel worn down by constant climate messaging can become even more fatigued after seeing one more headline. That added fatigue doesn’t only decrease their interest — it reduces compassion and reduces willingness to support climate action.

three fossil ads posters on tube station wall
Posters at Southwark station in London ‘advertise’ fossil fuels.
Badvertising, CC BY-NC-ND

Another study highlights the role of attention. Paying attention to climate change is a precondition for climate-friendly action. But attention is easily disrupted. When people are stressed, distracted or overloaded with information, climate communication becomes something to tune out rather than engage with.

Despite rising fatigue, the advertising industry is expanding rapidly. Global ad spending is expected to reach US$1.17 trillion (£0.88 trillion) in 2025 up from roughly US$792 billion in 2024. Sustainability advertising represents a growing share as brands compete to position themselves as environmentally responsible.

Oil and gas companies have increased their climate-related communication. Although many of these campaigns focus on green initiatives or future sustainability goals, critics argue that the messaging can obscure ongoing fossil-fuel operations.

Transport for London records show that hundreds of oil and gas ads have run across its network in recent years. These campaigns reach millions of commuters.

The rise of counter campaigns

Across the UK and Europe, campaign groups are pushing for limits on fossil-fuel ads in public spaces. Examples include ad-free city initiatives and petitions to prohibit such advertising altogether.

Comparisons with past tobacco advertising rules are becoming more common, with some arguing that fossil-fuel ads should face similar restrictions. The campaign at Southwark station by Badvertising, by a climate charity called Possible, reflects this wider movement.

Yet, as both sides escalate their advertising, the public risks becoming more fatigued. Research shows that people – especially children and young people – increasingly worry about the planet and often feel sad, anxious, powerless or guilty.

These emotional reactions mirror wider findings that fear-based or stress-inducing contexts often reduce responsible behaviour. Managing these emotions is important.

If climate ads are starting to grow and feel tiring, repeating the same crisis-driven messages can push people away. What keeps attention instead is relevance, creativity, and variety.

A report by thinktank ClimateXChange shows that climate messages work better when they are rooted in local realities, focused on solutions, and linked to clear, achievable actions. Storytelling plays a key role here, helping people see how climate change connects with their own lives, rather than something abstract and difficult to influence.

Creativity matters too. Research shows that creative ads, characterised by high divergence and relevance, is less likely to wear out over time. A report by a climate charity also suggests that using different frames, voices and formats – from personal stories to humour, visuals or creative perspectives – can help advertisers prevent fatigue in increasingly crowded media environments.

For the public, managing climate ad fatigue isn’t about disengaging. It is about being more selective where attention goes. People can choose to ignore climate messages that place responsibility mainly on individual behaviour, and instead engage with communications that point to systemic causes and collective solutions.

Campaigns such as the Southwark posters do this by shifting attention away from personal choice and toward the industries and regulatory systems. Public support for restrictions on fossil fuel ads, similar to those applied to tobacco, would reduce misleading messages at their source instead of placing the burden on people to filter them out.

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Sayed Elhoushy 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 climate campaigns can cut through ad fatigue – https://theconversation.com/how-climate-campaigns-can-cut-through-ad-fatigue-269839

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Why shoppers buy fast fashion even if they disagree with it

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Yang Ding, Lecturer in Marketing, University of Reading

Shoppers were able to browse Shein’s range in person at its first bricks-and-mortar space in Paris. Antonin Albert/Shutterstock

Every December, many shoppers plan to buy fewer things and choose more sustainable options. Yet as the month goes on, spending rises and fast fashion becomes hard to resist. Christmas has become a moment when good intentions collide with discounts and the emotional pull of seasonal fashion.

That contradiction became unusually visible when fashion giant Shein opened its first permanent shop inside the BHV department store in Paris in November. Crowds formed as shoppers tried to get in, while protesters stood outside holding signs and shouting “shame” over concerns about its ESG (environmental, social and governance) track record.

Shein has taken rapid turnaround times and low prices to a new level, taking it beyond fast fashion to “ultra-fast fashion”.

Some other brands with retail space inside the department store announced they planned to withdraw in protest at Shein’s presence. And the opening of new Shein stores across France has been delayed.

There was more controversy. The French government demanded controls, including age verification, on parts of Shein’s online platform amid investigations into banned weapons and childlike sex dolls on its site, placing the company under more scrutiny.

When it was made aware of the products in November, a spokesman for Shein said the company was taking the issue “extremely seriously”. It disabled the part of its site where third-party sellers list their products.

At the same time, shoppers entering the Paris store found higher prices than online, which added another layer to the debate over Shein’s transparency and the wider environmental and labour concerns linked to fast fashion.

What makes Christmas such a powerful moment for fast fashion is not only seasonal marketing but also the psychological dynamics that help consumers assuage their environmental guilt. Fast fashion already accounts for a significant share of online clothing sales in France, and Shein has become one of the largest retailers by volume, despite rising public criticism.

In the UK, sales of fast fashion have reached billions of pounds, with strong annual growth, suggesting that affordability eventually outweighs ethical concerns.

Research into consumer behaviour shows that people often use moral excuses to justify questionable purchases, telling themselves that everyone else is doing the same or that the harm is distant and indirect. This softens the ethical tension long enough to make the purchase.

Beyond guilt reduction, fast fashion benefits from what marketing researchers describe as temporal discounting. This is when consumers focus on short-term enjoyment and price rather than longer-term environmental damage.

Shein’s rapid production model turns digital trends into products within days, producing instant gratification. Future harms such as waste or emissions are psychologically distant at the moment of buying. These mechanisms help explain why fast fashion continues to flourish even as climate concerns grow.

In many ways, the Christmas rush exposes a wider conflict between consumers’ ethical intentions and the realities of global retail. This paradox is not only personal. It also shapes how governments and the public respond to Shein’s growing presence.

The protests outside the Paris store echo the tension across regulatory and societal institutions, where concerns about labour conditions and environmental impact collide with the influence of a company that has become central to contemporary fashion.

Why the Paris protests matter beyond ESG

It may be tempting to see the demonstrations in Paris simply as another reaction to environmental issues. Yet concerns around Shein were already part of the public debate long before the store opened. Fast fashion has relied for decades on outsourcing to cheaper manufacturing centres with limited worker protections.

Even after the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013 when 1,134 people (mainly garment workers), were killed in Bangladesh when their factory building collapsed, many European fast fashion companies continued to face criticism about their environmental violations across global supply chains.

What distinguishes the current controversy are not the ethical problems but the challenge Shein poses to the traditional balance of power in global fashion. For much of the past century, European companies dominated the industry and shaped international tastes.

Now Shein’s algorithmically-driven and hyperresponsive model is disrupting that dominance. This speed fuels waste and environmental damage even as its low prices keep attracting millions of shoppers.

In this sense, for Shein, Paris becomes more than a retail location. Success in one of the world’s fashion capitals would mark an important moment in Shein’s global expansion and signal that it is no longer operating at the margins.

It would also test whether this new type of fashion giant can prove itself beyond its online audience, in the eyes of regulators, partner brands and in-store shoppers.

The pushback Shein faces in Paris points to a broader anxiety about who now holds influence in the fashion industry. A Chinese fast fashion giant has bypassed traditional European gatekeepers and challenged the established hierarchy of who shapes the industry’s future.

In response to a 2024 report criticising working conditions in some of the factories it uses, Shein said in a statement it was “actively working to improve our suppliers’ practices, including ensuring that hours worked are voluntary and that workers are compensated fairly for what they do”. And with regard to criticisms about its environmental impact, Shein has said its use of AI has now cut the amount of waste generated in its production processes.

The Conversation

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. Why shoppers buy fast fashion even if they disagree with it – https://theconversation.com/why-shoppers-buy-fast-fashion-even-if-they-disagree-with-it-271452

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What the year in polls tells us about Reform’s growth – and Labour and Tory losses

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Paul Whiteley, Professor, Department of Government, University of Essex

In the year and a half since Labour won a landslide in the 2024 general election, over 400 polls have been published. Combined, these polls tell a story of a government and its traditional opposition party losing support and fringe parties gaining ground. The big question this poses is whether Reform can win the next general election.

When these polls are combined into weekly averages since the general election, they show that Labour and Reform have averaged 25% in vote intentions over this period. The Conservatives have averaged 21%, the Liberal Democrats 13% and the Greens 9%.

Vote intentions since the 2024 election:

A chart showing the fluctuations in voting intention polls since the 2024 election.
The post-2024 polling outlook.
P Whiteley, CC BY-ND

The trends show that support for Labour has declined continuously since the election. In the case of the Conservatives, they were ahead of Reform until shortly after Kemi Badenoch was elected as leader. From this point on, Nigel Farage’s Reform party moved well ahead of both Labour and the Conservatives.

It appears that Badenoch’s strategy of trying to outdo Reform in rightwing rhetoric has failed. The Liberal Democrats have remained close to their 13% support throughout. The Greens received a boost when Zack Polanski was elected leader in September 2025. The Greens are now a strong rival to Labour, hoovering up leftwing voters who supported Labour in the general election. This is particularly true if the new leftwing Your Party cannot settle its internal squabbling.

Where does the Reform vote come from?

It is interesting to know where the Reform vote comes from – and especially whether it is taking more votes from Labour or the Conservatives. One way of finding this out is to conduct a panel survey to ask the same people about their voting intentions over time, to see if it changes. Unfortunately, this cannot be done with polling data since it’s too difficult and expensive for pollsters to keep contacting the same people.

An alternative and much easier way of finding out where the vote comes from is to look at the strength of the relationship between trends in Reform voting and voting for the other parties. To do this, we need to look at the changes in support for all five parties. As an example, the correlation between changes in the Reform vote and changes in the Conservative vote over this period is -0.40.

If the correlation were -1.0 that would mean a decrease of Conservative support by 1% would produce an increase in Reform support of 1%. If the correlation was zero it would mean the Conservative vote did not influence the Reform vote at all. It appears that there is a moderately strong negative relationship between Conservative and Reform voting. Put another way, a fall of 10% in Conservative voting translates into an increase in the Reform vote of 4%. A fall of 10% in support for Labour delivers an increase of 3% for Reform.

The effects of changes in vote intentions for the national parties on changes in Reform voting since the general election:

A chart showing on how voting intention has changed for four parties since the election.
It’s been downhill all the way since the election for some parties.
P Whiteley, CC BY-ND

However, there is a complication arising in the calculation when looking at each of the other parties and Reform voting separately. This approach fails to account for the relationships between these other parties.

If, for example, Reform does well against the Conservatives, this will help Labour because the Tories are a strong challenger to the Labour party. If Reform weakens support for the Tories, this could rebound to give Labour an advantage over Reform.

We need to look at the interactions between changes in support for all parties at the same time to get a clear picture.

This is done using multiple regression, which is a statistical technique that predicts changes in the Reform vote from changes in all the other party votes at the same time, thereby taking into account interactions between them.

The effects are quite strong, and they are roughly the same for Labour and the Conservatives. A fall of 10% for each of them boosts the Reform vote by 6%. The effect of Liberal Democrat voting on Reform, meanwhile, is negligible, with a coefficient of -0.08.

However, the Green vote does affect Reform, having a coefficient of -0.34. In other words, a fall of 10% in the Reform vote will boost the Green vote by about 3.4%.

The pattern observed in the polls is of Labour’s vote share continuously declining and of the Conservative vote increasing to begin with and then subsequently declining. This situation looks different when you consider their individual relationships to Reform but, in the event, when all the interactions are taken into account, they both end up losing votes to the newer party to the same extent.

This has implications for the May 2026 local elections. The leadership positions of both Keir Starmer and Badenoch are at risk if these contests turn out to be a disaster for their parties.

Unless Reform’s support starts to weaken, both parties could lose the same proportion of votes to Reform. And at the moment the party shows little sign of doing so. That said, there are four years to go at the outside to the next election – and with volatile polls like these, anything can happen.

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The Conversation

Paul Whiteley has received funding from the British Academy and the ESRC.

– ref. What the year in polls tells us about Reform’s growth – and Labour and Tory losses – https://theconversation.com/what-the-year-in-polls-tells-us-about-reforms-growth-and-labour-and-tory-losses-271827

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I study rat nests − here’s why rodents make great archivists

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Alexandria Mitchem Hansen, Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology, Columbia University

Old rat nests can contain fabrics, papers, animal bones, plant remains and other materials that have been undisturbed for hundreds of years. Andyworks/E+ Collection via Getty Images

Rats and other rodents and pests can make great archivists.

That’s because they forage food and build dens, storing fabric, paper, animal bones, plant remains and other materials under floorboards, behind walls and in attics, crawl spaces and wells. There, these materials might dry out and remain undisturbed for hundreds of years.

By analyzing the materials in these nests, archaeologists like me can learn more about the people who once lived nearby.

I studied a rat nest that was used by generations of rats over several decades and was found under the floorboards in the attic of the historic home at Bartram’s Garden in southwest Philadelphia. In 1728, Quaker farmer and naturalist John Bartram began to plant his garden, which is considered the oldest botanic garden in North America. I studied thousands of plants collected by rats and learned how the Bartram family used these plants for food, medicine, trade and study.

Exterior view of old stone building surrounded by grass and trees
A view of the Bartram family’s historic stone home.
Magpieturtle/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

A 200-year-old nest

Rat nests are common in historic structures, particularly homes like Bartram’s that contained kitchens and buildings that were used for food storage, such as cellars.

Bartram collected plants from around eastern North America along with those sent to him by naturalists in Europe. His sons, John Jr. and William, and later his granddaughter Ann Bartram Carr, continued to expand the garden, which gained international fame during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The rat nest was discovered during historic preservation work at the Bartram home in 1977. My analysis of the materials in the nest indicates that it was formed in the late 18th and early 19th century. The materials are representative of the plants rodents would have been foraging from the Bartram home and garden.

The plants I identified weren’t restricted to those sold by the Bartram family as a part of their nursery business. Nor were they limited to plants that were traded between naturalists hoping to learn more about the flora of the American Colonies. They included crops such as wheat, buckwheat, corn, parsnips and beans grown by the family to feed themselves; herbs such as lemongrass, basil and mint used for medicine by the family; and many wild and weedy plants – for example, brambles, corn cockle, and broom and needle grasses – that were not intentionally grown by the Bartrams but were nonetheless collected by the rats on the property.

Small pentagon-shaped white trays including organic materials
Materials from the rat nest in the process of being sorted by the author, including hickory, walnuts, acorns, corn and peanuts.
Alexandria Mitchem Hansen, CC BY-NC-SA

By studying the plants foraged by these rats, I learned not only about the important scientific and commercial plants in the garden, but also about the food and medicine the family were eating and using, including imported snacks such as peanuts and Brazil nuts, which were not grown in the garden but could have been purchased in Philadelphia.

Sorting 11 pounds of material

I am an archaeobotanist, which means I recover and identify plants from the past.

Over the course of almost three years, I sorted through over 11 pounds (5 kilograms) of material from the rat nest recovered from the Bartrams’ home and stored at the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials at the Penn Museum.

Because there is often a lot of material, archaeologists divide these kinds of samples using geological sieves, which are scientific screening tools that filter samples by size. This makes the material easier to sort.

Then I used a microscope to sort and identify the plants therein. Archaeobotanists find various parts of plants, including seeds, chaff, fruit pits, nutshells and cobs. The plants I identified ranged in size from whole corncobs to weed seeds smaller than half a millimeter.

To identify the species of plants, I used reference manuals, comparative collections of plant seeds and other parts, and help from the archaeobotanists at the Penn Museum. I also studied images from herbaria, which are collections of historic plants that have been preserved and archived.

In the future, I plan to focus on the weedy plants recovered from the rat nest. The majority of invasive species in the United States were originally introduced in horticultural contexts, including botanic gardens and nurseries. Data from Bartram’s Garden will help me and other scholars better understand the timing and details of this process.

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The Conversation

Alexandria Mitchem Hansen receives funding from the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, the American Philosophical Society, the Explorer’s Club, the Society for Historical Archaeology, the Society for Ethnobiology, and Columbia University.

– ref. I study rat nests − here’s why rodents make great archivists – https://theconversation.com/i-study-rat-nests-heres-why-rodents-make-great-archivists-270357