... in the United States, public investment in science seems to be redirected and concentrated on AI at the expense of other disciplines. And Big Tech companies are consolidating their control over the AI ecosystem. In these ways and others, AI seems to be making everything worse.

This is not the whole story. We should not resign ourselves to AI being harmful to humanity. None of us should accept this as inevitable, especially those in a position to influence science, government, and society. Scientists and engineers can push AI towards a beneficial path. Here’s how.

The essential point is that, like with the climate crisis, a vision of what positive future outcomes look like is necessary to actually get things done. Things with the technology that would make life better. They give a handful of examples and provide broad categories if activities that can help steer what is done.

Scientists Must Push AI Toward Responsible AI

Scientists have a unique role in guiding AI's future. Learn how they can steer it towards ethical and equitable outcomes.

^{Bruce Schneier (IEEE Spectrum)}

No gift link right now.

Archived copy of the article

The sticking point is the use of carbon credits — which are mostly fraudulent — to claim emissions reductions.

Republicans got their midterms bogeyman in Zohran Mamdani. Now comes the challenge: making the incoming New York City mayor’s brand of democratic socialism sink candidates outside his liberal bubble.
They’re getting right to it.
Republicans’ House campaign arm launched digital ads Wednesday morning across 49 battleground districts tying Democrats to the “socialist mayor” who “built his movement on defunding the police and abolishing ICE.”

Archive article: archive.is/Ym8Za

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/05/republicans-try-to-remake-national-democratic-candidates-into-mamdani-copycats-00636887

The PR company CMS Strategic that reportedly planted a false story in the Times about Palestine Action has a series of intimate connections to the shadowy pro-Israel lobby group We Believe in Israel (WBII). This is of course the same WBII that boasted its role in machinating the proscription of the group.

What’s more, vis-a-vis these WBII ties, the firm appears to have a wealth of links to the Labour Party and key figures in government.

Palestine Action Iran funding smear: PR firm exposed

As the Canary’s Alex/Rose Cocker detailed, the article in question had claimed – completely without basis – that the Home Office was investigating Palestine Action receiving funding from Iran.

However, repeated Home Office denials over the allegations had suggested for a while that something else was afoot.

Private Eye had previously approached the Home Office over the Times article. However, according to the magazine, this was only for it to come back and say that it did not recognise the claim.

The Canary had also submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Home Office. But once again, the Home Office confirmed that it had not supplied any information directly to the Times for the story.

At the time, there was a mainstream media frenzy from the usual suspects. GB News, the Daily Mail, the BBC, the Telegraph, and the Spectator all ran a series of stories trumpeting the potential Iran link. Declassified UK traced them all back to the dubious claims in the Times article.

Now, Private Eye has revealed how:

CMS Strategic has acted as Elbit’s UK PR firm for some years. A witness known by the Eye heard Georgia Pickering, CMS’s managing director and owner, claiming credit for getting a story into newspapers about Palestine Action, the “direct action” group that damaged Elbit factories and other premises the group says are linked to the war in Gaza.

Source of the Times claims – long unclear

Since the Times published the article, multiple outlets have speculated over the source of the claims.

The Guardian had highlighted how We Believe in Israel had tweeted just two days before the Times article calling Palestine Action a “shell front” and stating:

Behind Palestine Action’s theatre of resistance stands a darker puppeteer: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It’s well documented that the Zionist lobby group was chief among those lobbying for Palestine Action’s proscription. In June, just weeks ahead of Palestine Action’s ban, it published a report titled Palestine Action: A Case for Proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000. And notably, the Guardian pointed out how home secretary Yvette Cooper’s statement on the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was “similar” to the wording from this report. WBII even boasted it was thanks to its briefing that the government decided to proscribe Palestine Action.

What’s more, the Canary has identified how WBII’s current director, Catherine Perez-Shakdam, had in the year leading up to Palestine Action’s proscription, penned op-eds not only calling for the ban, but also insinuating a link to Iran. Notably, in November 2024, she wrote an article calling Palestine Action activists “Tehran’s ideological sentries” and arguing that:

To look at Palestine Action is to see not an “activist” group, but an ideological proxy for the Iranian regime, operating as Tehran’s enforcers in a country they otherwise could never reach.

The piece goes to great lengths to paint Palestine Action as “proxies of a foreign power”, describing them as:

foot soldiers whose purpose is to inject Tehran’s twisted worldview into the heart of Britain’s public discourse.

At points, the article implies Palestine Action tactics are “inspired” by the Iranian regime. In others, she goes further to almost imply they are active foreign agents, making baseless claims like:

Tehran, unable to influence Britain directly, deploys groups like Palestine Action to project its authoritarian ethos across borders.

Of course, opinion article that it is, for the Zionist Times of Israel no less, Perez-Shakdam was compelled to provide no evidence for her conspiracist diatribe.

We Believe in Israel: cropping up again, naturally

To date, the Canary has been unable to source evidence of Perez-Shakdam and the numerous organisations she heads lobbying the Home Office. However, the Home Office has obviously categorically denied any role in seeding the story anyway – at least directly.

Now, these facts take on new significance in light of Private Eye’s revelations.

This is because, if CMS Strategic really did plant the story in the Times, its worth emphasising some particular links to WBII – and their timing.

To start with, there’s the company’s senior account executive Kira Lewis. Lewis joined CMS Strategic in March 2025 from the infamous Israel lobby group British Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM).

Of course, this was just months before the Labour government announced the proscription of Palestine Action. As the Canary’s Ed Sykes previously highlighted, We Believe in Israel is:

“a side-project” of BICOM – “Britain’s most active pro-Israeli lobbying organisation”. And its longstanding director was awful Labour right-winger and self-proclaimed “Zionist shitlord” Luke Akehurst (who isn’t Jewish, by the way).

And Lewis evidently has clear connections to the group, not least through her role with BICOM.

In July 2022, they penned an op-ed for Jewish News about their trip to Israel with:

the Labour Friends of Israel and the We Believe In Israel campaign group.

Then, in June 2024, they were out on the campaign trail for Akehurst. Akehurst only stepped down from his near 13-year stint as We Believe in Israel director that very same June.

What’s more, it appears CMS Strategic has made use of Lewis’s links with the parachute North Durham MP. In May, Labour First (where incidentally, Lewis also previously worked), hosted an event with chancellor Rachel Reeves.

In a LinkedIn post, Pickering posted chummy photos with the chancellor and thanked Akehurst for arranging for the company to support the event.

Labour links in abundance

What’s also apparent is that CMS Strategic has tangible inroads with this current Labour government as well.

Pickering is a Bracknell Labour Party councillor. Alongside this, she is also co-chair of Labour in Communications’ (LIC) defence and aerospace policy network group. The organisation describes its remit as:

Labour’s fastest-growing professional network of supporters working in the communications, media and public affairs industry.

In a LinkedIn post, Pickering put out a call to recruit new Labour Party members from the PR and defence sectors to the group. A group gathering together Labour members with defence lobbyist experience – nothing to see there of course.

Lewis, a Young Labour member, is also a Labour Party councillor, for Higham Hill. In 2023, they resigned their role as junior whip on the Waltham Forest council after posting a tweet stating that:

What Israel is doing is bad – killing thousands of innocent people, including children. But not evil. Hamas is evil.

Additionally, Lewis’s LinkedIn details a number of short-term gigs as an organiser for the party.

However, perhaps most significantly, as mentioned above, Lewis previously worked for Labour First. Journalist and author Paul Holden has described the group in his explosive new book as the “base camp for the Labour right’s overt fightback” against Corbyn and the party’s left-wing. By this, he was referring to the organisation’s very public efforts to oust Corbyn and his allies, namely by spearheading repeated coup attempts during his leadership.

And low and behold, Akehurst had his fingers in this pie too. He co-founded Labour First alongside former LFI vice-chair and MP John Spellar and Labour councillor Keith Dibble. Naturally, Akehurst is still a director.

CMS staff were also at the Labour Party’s 2025 conference arranging “1-1 discussions” for ministers, MPs, and “industry voices”.

CMS Strategic shilling for DSEI

Moreover, CMS is no stranger to publicly gloating about helping defence companies get coverage in the corporate media either:

So despite the company denying the claims from the Eye, it would be quite on-brand for Pickering to have boasted this – and for the company to be the actor behind the scenes.

As the Eye underscored, CMS has shilled for notorious Israel-linked arms corporation Elbit Systems. Of course, Palestine Action has long made the number one Israel arms manufacturer the main target of its direct action. The magazine also highlighted that in 2024 Palestine Action targeted CMS over its lobbying for the company.

Indeed, the PR firm is one of just two companies the arms producers has employed in recent years to lobby the UK government. CMS isn’t currently listed as its lobbyist.

However, CMS itself has maintained a murky menagerie of arms manufacturers amid its clientele. It was none other than CMS running media and comms for the UK’s largest arms fair Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI). In fact, Pickering was bragging about CMS delivering this for DSEI for the 10th time:

linkedin.com/posts/georgia-pic…

This was the same DSEI that exhibited arms giants that have armed and sustained Israel’s genocide. It included drone and F35 manufacturers Elbit, Rafael, Lockhead Martin, and BAE.

Times peddling propaganda for CMS Strategic? What’s new

The Canary approached CMS Strategic and the Times for comment. We asked the Times whether it had verified that the Home Office were purportedly “understood” to be investigating Palestine Action’s funding and links to Iran. In addition, we queried if CMS/Georgia Pickering were the source for its article. The outlet did not respond by the time of publication.

Meanwhile, CMS Strategic came back with an identical comment to what it told the Eye:

Any suggestion that CMS was involved with The Times article dated 23 June 2025 or discussed being involved with it are categorically untrue.

Ultimately, the Times in its top-quality due diligence journalism, published what appear to be outrageously fabricated claims. Those claims may have originated from a long-term lobbyist and PR outfit for major arms companies abetting Israel’s genocide.

There’s no definitive proof – at present – that WBII had a hand in this. However, these connections to CMS Strategic do raise significant questions nonetheless. As its swagger around Palestine Action’s proscription underscores – pumping out propaganda sure wouldn’t be out of character.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/climate/trump-nantucket-wind-farm.html?unlocked_article_code=1.y08.ylwE.lxuKdTdwxSIK

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/climate/cop30-amazon-brazil-forest-fund.html?unlocked_article_code=1.y08.qGr_.YT0ji6li4aCB

The headline story from this year’s elections is simple: Democrats increased their support across the country and swept all the marquee contests in key states. Democratic Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger won Virginia by ~14 points, while Mikie Sherrill kept New Jersey blue by a double-digit margin. Georgia delivered two more statewide wins for Democrats, flipping both Public Service Commission seats for the first time in recent memory, and Pennsylvania elected a new Democratic lower-court judge (while keeping all its existing Supreme Court Democrats). And a socialist is now mayor of New York City.

These results point to an environment that’s significantly friendlier to Democrats than most pre‑election polls and the “vibes” suggested. An early forecast for the 2026 midterms — based on the historical predictive power of Virginia’s governor elections — suggests a national environment that looks something like D+8 to D+9, compared to the D+3 to D+4 in polls today.

None of this, however, was inevitable. The result of these elections was not merely a “thermostatic” backlash to the president. First, because the swings were larger than on average (16 points in VA since 2021, e.g.; 9 versus 2024). And second, because of the changing issue landscape powering Democrats’ victory. Voters said they punished Republicans for Trump’s policies on the economy, health care, and immigration. More said they were voting against him than voting for either party’s nominees for governor, according to the exits.

Instead, the best explanation for 2025 is that voters didn’t know what they were getting with Trump 2.0 last November, but now they do — and they don’t like it.

The following analysis of results and the exit polls explores seven stories hiding in the Democrats’ rosy performance. Charts of results show the scale of the Democratic victories. The exits show that voters prioritized affordability and the economy, and acted on their near-historic disapproval of the president. That combination powered wins across key geographies and demographic groups, blunting GOP efforts to fight on immigration, transgender kids, and crime. In Virginia and New Jersey, “economy‑first” voters sided with the Democratic gubernatorial candidates by a 65-35 margin — a sharp reversal from 2024, when economy‑focused voters broke roughly 80–20 for Trump.

Seven data-driven lessons from the 2025 elections

Democrats outran their polls and swept statewide races from Georgia to New Jersey, on an agenda of affordability and a broad anti-Trump backlash

^{G. Elliott Morris (Strength In Numbers)}

Republican Cory Bowman, who is Vice President JD Vance's half-brother, faced long odds against Democratic incumbent Mayor Aftab Pureval.

JD Vance's half-brother, Republican Cory Bowman, lost his long-shot bid in the nationally-watched Cincinnati mayoral race, falling short against Democratic incumbent Aftab Pureval.

Bowman and Republicans tried to paint the city as overrun with crime. Pureval countered that the city leadership combatted crime through numerous measures, including implementing a stricter curfew and recruiting more officers.

VP Vance's half-brother loses in challenge of Cincinnati's Democratic mayor

^{, USA TODAY (USA TODAY)}

The Israeli army said Tuesday that it had killed a Palestinian man in the northern Gaza Strip for allegedly crossing the so-called “yellow line” despite a ceasefire agreement, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, the army claimed that the Palestinian posed an “imminent threat” after he allegedly crossed the yellow line and approached soldiers in northern Gaza.

The “yellow line” is the first withdrawal line outlined in the initial phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which took effect on Oct. 10. It separates areas still under Israeli military control in the east from those where Palestinians are permitted to move in the west.

Despite the ceasefire, the Gaza Health Ministry said that more than 200 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 600 others injured by Israeli army fire since the ceasefire.

Phase one of the ceasefire deal includes the release of […] hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The plan also envisages the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas.

Since October 2023, the […] genocidal war has killed nearly 69,000 people and injured more than 170,300, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=820783

Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk said on Tuesday evening that the movement had agreed for a minister from the Palestinian Authority to manage Gaza in order to serve the public interest.

In a televised interview, Abu Marzouk said that Palestinian factions had reached a consensus that the security force operating in Gaza should be Palestinian, under the leadership of the committee responsible for managing the enclave.

He explained that it would be difficult for the UN Security Council to approve a resolution to deploy an international force in Gaza as proposed by the United States.

Abu Marzouk added that mediators had insisted the formation of such a force must be authorised by the Security Council, while both the United States and Israel did not wish for it to be established under a UN resolution. He stressed that Hamas would not accept any foreign military force replacing the Israeli army in Gaza.

The Hamas official stated that Israel had not achieved victory in its war on Gaza, and that the Palestinian people had not surrendered despite two years of destruction.

He also said that Hamas had recorded more than 190 Israeli violations since the ceasefire came into effect on 11 October.

Abu Marzouk noted that the parties had not yet reached the second phase of the agreement, which is expected to address the issue of weapons in Gaza.

Meanwhile, a source familiar with the matter told CNN that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump was preparing a draft resolution for the UN Security Council to deploy a multinational force in Gaza to support the ceasefire brokered by the United States.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/?p=821022

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/ram/bewildered-enthusiasts-decry-memory-price-increases-of-100-percent-or-more-the-ai-ram-squeeze-is-finally-starting-to-hit-pc-builders-where-it-hurts

Archived/non pay-walled

Here is the original report by Darktrace: Salty Much: Darktrace’s view on a recent Salt Typhoon intrusion

Cybersecurity programs typically focus on protecting core applications and digital assets. But what if the bad guys start targeting trusted defensive measures?

This was the case as reported by Darktrace, a cybersecurity platform provider. Its report sheds light on a sophisticated cyber intrusion linked to Salt Typhoon. The threat actor group is believed to be operated by China's Ministry of State Security, which conducts cyber espionage campaigns against other countries.

The recent attack features a blend of zero-day exploitation and trusted software abuse. In this instance, Salt Typhoon infiltrated a European telecommunications provider through a gateway device. The attackers then executed a familiar—but evolving—arsenal of stealth techniques.
These included DLL sideloading and abusing trusted antivirus software—such as Norton, Bkav, and IObit—to mask malicious payloads under legitimate binaries. The campaign also deployed a custom backdoor known as SNAPPYBEE (aka Deed RAT) by using a dual command-and-control channel (HTTP and unidentified TCP) to sustain the covert access.

Darktrace analysts attribute the incident to Salt Typhoon based on overlapping tactics, infrastructure, and malware patterns seen in prior operations by the group. The event underscores a growing trend: nation-state actors are increasingly weaponizing legitimate tools and supply-chain software to bypass traditional security controls and AI-powered detection.

...

Given the current geopolitical relationship between the US and China, attacks like this are sure to keep occurring. The two countries compete in world markets. Plus, mutual distrust exists across economic, technological, and military domains.

This campaign also symbolizes broader China-linked cyber operations targeting telecom and communications infrastructure as part of its strategic intelligence-gathering efforts.

“Organizations should expect stealthy activity that blends with normal operations when facing Salt Typhoon,” said Jason Soroko, a Senior Fellow at Sectigo, a provider of comprehensive certificate lifecycle management.”

As this attack illustrates, there has been a shift toward stealth-driven espionage. Attackers now rely less on malware volume. Their focus has turned to exploiting the trust woven into enterprise systems. The time has arrived to apply the zero-trust paradigm to cybersecurity defenses.

China Hackers Exploit Citrix Gateway to Breach European Telecom - Security Buzz

Discover the malicious strategies employed by Salt Typhoon in its recent attacks on trusted antivirus software and systems.

^{Security Buzz}

Last week this instance decided out of nowhere that it deserves a break and vanished.

After multiple attempts of troubleshooting, I was about to put up a static html to announce the move away from "the broken ass lemmy", when i figured out the real problem (nginx config was changed for some reason and no longer correct).

That being said, I still would like to move away from lemmy. At the time of setup, it was the closest to a reddit replacement we had available but by now nostr has matured a lot and it would be in everyones best interest to start building a community on there instead of a federated platform like lemmy on which you lose your entire online presence when the instance goes down.

If you have any suggestions on what specific nostr frontend we should host here on monero.town, please feel free to share them!

Personally id like to deploy an instance of monstr.land/ but sadly it is currently not FOSS.

Shutdown beats record set during Trump’s first term as succession of Senate votes fails to yield breakthrough

The US government shutdown became the longest in history on Wednesday, crossing the 36-day mark with no end in sight as Republican and Democratic senators remained at loggerheads over restarting funding to shuttered federal departments.

The shutdown beat the previous 35-day record set in December 2018 and January 2019 during Donald Trump’s first term, when government funding legislation was held up over his insistence on including money to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

The standoff began on the first day of October, after Democratic senators refused to vote for a government funding bill unless it included an extension of Joe Biden-era tax credits that lower costs for health plans purchased through Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges. Tens of millions of Americans are expected to be unable to afford insurance once the credits expire at the end of 2025.

US government shutdown enters 36th day to become longest in history

^{Chris Stein (The Guardian)}

The Golden State ballot measure cancels out Republicans' Texas gerrymander.

Dems win major victory against Trumpism as Prop. 50 passes in California

^{Mother Jones}

Chinese research institute confirms success of fission-based innovation that is poised to reshape clean, sustainable nuclear power.

China reaches energy independence milestone by ‘breeding’ uranium from thorium

^{Stephen Chen (South China Morning Post)}

The three-man crew was supposed to return to Earth on Wednesday to wrap up six months in space.

Archived version: archive.is/newest/arstechnica.…

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Space junk may have struck a Chinese crew ship in low-Earth orbit

^{Stephen Clark (Ars Technica)}

Israel is deliberately obstructing the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip by imposing a new registration system for NGOs

Archived version: archive.is/newest/thecanary.co…

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

40 NGOs accuse Israel of using aid as a political weapon

^{Alaa Shamali (The Canary)}

Tom Fowler tells the Canary about the misogynistic culture of abuse at the centre of the Special Branch and its Spycops operations

The British state sent a "rape gang" of cops to abuse women

^{Ed Sykes (The Canary)}

President Donald Trump is nominating Jared Isaacman to serve as his NASA administrator after all.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-re-nominates-jared-isaacman-nasa-elon-musk/

To implement his sweeping agenda, Zohran Mamdani will have to navigate the New York Police Department and its influential union.

Archived version: archive.is/newest/theintercept…

Zohran Mamdani Avoided Campaigning Against the Police. Will They Work With Him?

^{Akela Lacy (The Intercept)}

The UN has warned that what is happening in Gaza represents a “near-total collapse of the agricultural and production system"

Archived version: archive.is/newest/thecanary.co…

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Israel's genocide leaves Gaza with just 5% of farm land remaining

^{Alaa Shamali (The Canary)}

In a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, US state attorneys demanded Meta defy EU sustainability and human rights directives — citing "European elites" and "bureaucrats in Brussels."

Archived version: archive.is/newest/euobserver.c…

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

US states demand Meta reject EU sustainability directives

In a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, US state attorneys demanded Meta defy EU sustainability and human rights directives — citing "European elites" and "bureaucrats in Brussels."

^{Wester van Gaal (EUobserver)}

cross-posted from: beehaw.org/post/23037393

A former Navy pilot, first elected to Congress in 2018, will be New Jersey's next governor.

Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill defeated former Republican Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, according to a race call by The Associated Press, capping a closely-watched gubernatorial election that some polls predicted would be a coin flip.

Approval of measure could determine if Republicans keep full control of government in next year’s midterm elections

It was a decisive victory for Democrats in deep-blue California, who had raced to counter a gerrymander in Texas, engineered at the US president’s behest, to carve out new safe Republican districts. The Associated Press declared Proposition 50 had passed almost instantly when polls closed statewide.

In approving the measure, voters chose to toss out the work of California’s independent redistricting commission and temporarily adopt maps drawn by the state legislature to help Democrats pick up five additional seats in the US House of Representatives.

Newsom and Democrats framed the measure as a way to safeguard US democracy from Trump’s “wrecking ball” presidency. By contrast, opponents offered a mixed message, with Republicans alternatively attacking Newsom and praising the work of the independent mapmaking panel.

Prop 50: Californians pass redistricting measure that helps Democrats flip up to five House seats

^{Lauren Gambino (The Guardian)}

Lawyers call for clarity over law as six are found guilty while being stopped from using defence used by fellow activists

Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent | Wed 5 Nov 2025 08.00 CET

The six protesters outside Southwark crown court. From left: Andrew Dames, Clara O’Callaghan, Cosmo Cattell, Jane Touil, Michael Dunk and Adelheid Russenberger. Photograph: Just Stop Oil

Six environmental protesters were convicted after they were denied the ability to put a “reasonable excuse” defence or climate facts before the jury, despite these being afforded to other activists acquitted for taking part in the same demonstration.

After an eight-day trial at Southwark crown court in London, the six Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists were found guilty of public nuisance, which carries a maximum 10-year sentence, for climbing gantries on the M25 in 2022 to demand an end to new fossil fuel projects. They will be sentenced next month.

The way their case was handled contrasts starkly with that of three other JSO activists who took part in the same demonstration on London’s orbital motorway.

They were found not guilty of public nuisance after the judge at Guildford crown court allowed them to argue a defence of reasonable excuse and prosecutors permitted them to include 12 climate facts in the agreed facts – undisputed by both prosecutors and defence lawyers – presented to the jury. The verdicts in the two cases were less than three weeks apart.

Adelheid Russenberger, a history PhD student from London, who is one of those being sentenced at Southwark crown court next month, said: “It was just a complete disparity in how the judges treated the case and, to an extent, how the prosecutors dealt with them.
‘Compassion and care are being stripped away’: a Just Stop Oil activist on her time in prison
Read more

“One previous prosecutor was happy to accept some agreed facts regarding climate and the other wasn’t.”

The introduction of the statutory offence of public nuisance under the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act (PCSCA) was widely criticised as an attack on the right to protest.

Section 78 of the act includes a defence of reasonable excuse, but Judge Perrins, sitting at Southwark, refused to allow Russenberger, who represented herself, and her fellow accused to advance the defence to the jury.

He ruled: “The subjective belief of each defendant that their conduct was justified as an act of protest cannot afford them a reasonable excuse under the terms of the act for their subsequent actions.” He said that would prevent any protesters being convicted of public nuisance.

Raj Chada, head of criminal defence at Hodge, Jones and Allen, who represented Andrew Dames at Southwark and Isabel Rock at the Guildford trial, said: “There is an inconsistency and the UK courts are wrongly, in my view, not [always] allowing reasonable excuse to be used and failing to give adequate protection to your right to free speech.”

Russenberger, Dames and co-defendants Cosmo Cattell, Jane Touil, Clara O’Callaghan and Michael Dunk took part in the M25 protest, which spanned four days, on 8 November 2022. Rock, Sam Holland and Rachel Payne, who were found not guilty at Guildford crown court, participated on the following day.

Mel Carrington, a JSO spokesperson, said: “[Judges who] deny juries their right to determine whether or not our actions were justified are not protecting the public. They are acting anti-democratically and immorally.”

Ruth Ehrlich, head of policy and campaigns at human rights defence group Liberty, said: “The government must review its anti-protest laws in light of the mounting evidence they aren’t fit for purpose.”

A spokesperson for judges in England and Wales said: “Judicial independence and impartiality are fundamental to the rule of law. In each case, judges make decisions based on the evidence and arguments presented to them and apply the law as it stands.”

The Crown Prosecution Service has been approached for comment.

In March, JSO announced an end to its campaign of civil resistance, its demand to end new oil and gas having become government policy.

Government ministers have confirmed they are considering measures to move homeless people out of Auckland's city centre - but the exact details remain unclear.

Asked for more details, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said he had been tasked with ensuring police had the tools they needed to tackle public disorder.

"It's blindingly obvious to everybody that the CBD, particularly of Auckland, but a lot of places, have been characterised by disorder and real concern around public safety," Goldsmith said. "We're open to some new suggestions in that area."

Asked specifically whether he would consider a ban on rough sleeping, Goldsmith said: "We're working our way through those issues... when we've got something to announce, we'll announce that."

Don Henley, membro degli Eagles, è texano. Arriva dalla Cass County, la sua contea dove, presumo, la musica che lui sentiva da giovane, che veniva suonata per la maggiore, era la musica country... Leggi e ascolta...

ᗩᐯᗩIᒪᗩᗷᒪᗴ

2025-11-05 08:34:57

Don Henley - Cass County (2015)

Don Henley, membro degli Eagles, è texano. Arriva dalla Cass County, la sua contea dove, presumo, la musica che lui sentiva da giovane, che veniva suonata per la maggiore, era la musica country . E Don celebra appunto la musica country in questo suo nuovo lavoro, che viene pubblicato ben 15 anni dopo il precedente, Inside Job. Ed è anche il suo primo album di musica country... artesuono.blogspot.com/2015/10…

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Ascolta il disco: album.link/s/3qsw8b2cxvBthq1OQ…

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Home – Identità DigitaleSono su: Mastodon.uno - Pixelfed - Feddit

Don Henley - Cass County (2015)

di Paolo Carù Don Henley, membro degli Eagles, è texano. Arriva dalla Cass County, la sua contea dove, presumo, la musica che lui senti...

^{Silvano Bottaro (Blogger)}