stories that caught our eye
Nasty Serbs Every playground bully always has a couple of smaller boys who want to join his gang. Putin has Byelorussia, and now Serbia. What drives so many Serbs to the side of evil? The answer may be delusions of grandeur, as Tomislav Markovic explains in the Guardian.
Surprisingly Bent Imagine if you could fold up your mobile phone and tuck it away. You can’t, of course, because the battery is so rigid. But now new discoveries in materials science suggest types of conductors/chargers that can be bent and shaped like play-doh, Here’s Stacy Liberatore for the Mail
Cuts now, knife crime later Why do people turn persistently to self-destructive behaviours like gambling, alcoholism, and violent crime? The answer may well be that failure to control impulses may be linked to childhood deprivation, as Richard Tunney makes clear for the Conversation. Any Government thinking of massive welfare cuts may be storing up trouble to come.
Irresponsible, that’s what you are We mean you, Bolsonaro, the man who wants to burn out the lungs of the planet. We don’t know what drives this man and the sinister groups that back him, but one thing is certain. The world will be in a far more perilous place if he succeeds. As this piece in Nature Briefings makes clear
As Brazilians prepare to go to the polls on Sunday, a Nature editorial argues that a second term for Jair Bolsonaro would represent a threat to science, democracy and the environment. Bolsonaro charged into office four years ago denying science, threatening Indigenous peoples’ rights and pushing a development-at-all-costs approach to the economy. This weekend, Brazilians will go to the polls in the second round of one of the country’s most important elections. Bolsonaro is standing for re-election against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Workers’ Party leader who was president for two terms between 2003 and 2010. Lula is not without baggage — he spent 19 months in jail as a result of a corruption investigation, although the convictions were annulled in 2021. However, he has pledged to achieve ‘net zero’ deforestation and protect Indigenous lands, if elected.Nature | 4 min read
Off the ball Fans of the satirical magazine Private Eye in the 1970s will remember the saga of the hapless Neasden FC and its ashen-faced manager Ron Knee. Now the real thing has come along in the shape of Durham City AFC, whose record of goals conceded, matches lost and relegations endured makes the doings of the North London outfit look positively accomplished by comparison. Here’s George Simms for I News
https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/durham-city-afc-inside-england-worst-football-club-1935944
#serbia #russia #materials science #crime #addiction #cuts #bolsonaro #lula #brasil #football #durhamcityafc
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