Kategori: News in English

Kate Bush’s visionary 1985 concept album, Hounds of Love, was the second she had produced on her own (after The Dreaming in 1982), and the first recorded in her own studio.

It sounded strikingly original for its time. A work of progressive pop that blended elements of experimental electronica, art rock, folk, chamber music and cinematic atmospheres into something new and aesthetically distinct.

Bush embraced digital sampling using the pioneering audio workstation, Fairlight CMI. Side A yielded a string of immaculate top 40 hits: Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), Cloudbusting, Hounds of Love and The Big Sky. Side B contained a seven-part song cycle called The Ninth Wave, an immersive nightmare-scape that invited the listener to empathise with the near-death experiences of a woman lost at sea.

Today the album is universally considered a classic. It’s one of the defining high watermarks for pop production in the 1980s, produced during a time when few female music creators had access to high-tech recording equipment and facilities.

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I have been researching Bush’s creative process for a new book I’ve written about Hounds of Love as part of the book publisher Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series, in which each title is about a single music album. Learning about how she held on to her creative autonomy, advocating for herself, her ideas and preferred ways of working while strategically navigating the male-dominated music industry has been inspirational.

According to the annual Inclusion in the Recording Studio report, the number of female producers has risen from 3.5% last year to 6.5% today. It’s difficult to know what the gender gap was in the mid-80s, but we can safely assume it was no better.

As a producer, Bush’s importance and influence cannot be overstated. Her work inspired generations of marginalised artists to seize control of production as a means of expressing complex ideas.

The music video for Hounds of Love.

In a 2022 interview with Pitchfork, the Icelandic singer-songwriter and composer
Björk said: “In the 80s Bush was the only thing. It was her who was doing that. Everything else was patriarchy … she was the producer, she was making the environment she was singing in.”

Bush’s commercial success cleared a path for women in pop to be taken more seriously as creators. As singer-songwriter Imogen Heap told the Standard in 2014: “Kate produced some truly outstanding music in an era dominated by men and gave us gals a licence to not just be ‘a bird who could sing and write a bit’, which was the attitude of most execs.”

Beyond being a pioneer by virtue of her gender and achievements, Bush’s working methods, established when creating Hounds of Love and pretty much in place ever since, also disprove some commonly held assumptions about music creativity.

The tortured artist myth

In an interview in 1992, Bush said that making Hounds of Love “was the happiest I’ve been compared to making other albums … I know that there’s a theory that goes around that you must suffer for your art … I don’t believe this.”

The “tortured artist” is a pervasive trope in music discourse, from Beethoven and Robert Schumann to Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse. It is perpetuated in popular culture in films like Whiplash (2014) and A Star Is Born (2018).

Kate Bush in 1980.
Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo

In 2011, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy called the concept a “damaging mythology”, one that had interfered with his own recovery from periods of mental illness and addiction. That Bush created some of her strongest works while in a happy, comfortable state, helps bust this dangerous myth that trauma is a necessary component of compelling artistry.

Another creative myth, particularly associated with studio-based music making, is that the best stuff comes out fast. Like The White Stripes, who conjured Seven Nation Army during a soundcheck, or Stevie Nicks, who poured out Fleetwood Mac’s hit Dreams in about ten minutes, winning ideas can strike from the flow state like lightning.

But hiring a big studio to experiment and see what happens was never Bush’s preferred mode. As she explained to Melody Maker in 1985: “Knowing the astronomical amount studio time cost used to make me really nervous about being too creative. You can’t experiment forever, and I work very, very slowly. I feel a lot more relaxed emotionally now that I have my own place to work.”

The making of Hounds of Love was a slow, incremental process, not reliant on the collective synergies of group collaboration, but rather on careful, individual selection. Its success reinforces the often-forgotten value of working slowly – that slow work can still engage with our intuitive senses.

Bush spent three years working on the album, and the length of time she spent on projects only grew after that. It took four more years to make The Sensual World (1989), another four for The Red Shoes(1993), a 12-year gap before Aerial (2005), her late masterpiece, was released and another six years before 50 Words For Snow (2011).

In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), behavioural scientist Daniel Kahneman differentiates between fast and slow cognitive modes. Fast thinking is intuitive and emotional. Slow thinking is mindful and deliberative.

A slow model of creativity makes sense of activities that we might otherwise perceive to be procrastination – think long walks and daydreams. Researchers have suggested that slowness is associated with greater divergent thinking in creative contexts.

In this way, it is revealing when Bush says of Hounds of Love: “I wrote the songs for this album in a tiny room overlooking endless fields. I could see the weather coming for miles.” Läs mer…

Immigration and crime were once again central themes throughout the US presidential election campaign. The belief that immigration drives up crime is one of the oldest – and strongest – convictions held by the public, spanning over a century in the US and elsewhere.

This view remains deeply rooted despite mounting evidence to the contrary, in large part thanks to politicians such as Donald Trump, who are all too keen to amplify this narrative. Since his first presidential campaign announcement in June 2015, Trump has persistently linked immigration to crime.

At that time, he stated: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems … They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime.” He has since stepped up this rhetoric.

In the final stretch of his recent presidential campaign, he made claims such as: “The corrupt media is outraged that I keep talking about migrant crime and the migrant crime epidemic. It’s the worst thing that’s happened to our country in 50 years. They’re taking over our small towns and cities.”

According to survey evidence from the Pew Research Center, an American thinktank based in Washington DC, immigration and crime were two of the top three issues for Trump voters in the 2024 election, after the economy.

But what does the evidence really show? Our analysis reveals that studies consistently find no causal link between immigration and increased crime across a variety of countries. Research from the US, including both older and more recent studies, as well as research on Italy and the UK, demonstrates that immigration does not have a significant impact on crime rates.

Our paper also provides new evidence from Europe that reinforces this conclusion. After analysing 15 years of data on immigration inflows and crime rates across 216 regions in 23 European countries, we found no significant link between immigration levels and crime rates.

Indeed, through the application of robust causal methods, our findings demonstrate that even in areas experiencing substantial immigration, crime rates do not rise – and may even decline slightly – as immigration increases.

Why perceptions and reality diverge

One of the main reasons why the belief that immigration drives crime has persisted for so long is the influence of media and political rhetoric. During an election campaign, for example, selective coverage and targeted political messages can fuel public fears.

In Chile, where the foreign-born population tripled over a decade in the early 2000s amid a booming economy, public concern about crime intensified and demand for private security increased. However, research indicates that this surge in immigration had no impact on crime rates, and that intense media coverage played a significant role in shaping and amplifying public misperception.

Such negative messaging, though effective (as exemplified by Trump’s successful campaign), often diverges sharply from reality. Developing policies that focus on the social and economic integration of immigrants, rather than assumptions based on fear, can promote safer and more cohesive communities.

Donald Trump holds up a graph showing immigration numbers into the US during a visit to the southern US border in Arizona, August 2024.
Allison Dinner / EPA

This isn’t to say migrants are not involved in crime. In fact, immigrants are often over-represented in the prison populations of many host countries.

But the fact this doesn’t lead to a rise in crime rates, according to our analysis, could be because immigrant populations are often too small to alter crime rates significantly. And it is also possible that some form of offender substitution occurs, where immigrants replace natives in local “crime markets”.

One strand of research has explored whether the over-representation of immigrants in crime statistics may stem from external factors, such as restricted legal status or limited economic opportunities, rather than any inherent criminal propensity.

Our review highlights how legal work permits and stable employment are directly linked to reductions in crime rates. For example, in cases where certain Eastern European immigrants to other countries in Europe were granted legal work permits, their crime rates dropped by over 50%.

Migrant workers from Thailand and Eastern Europe picking strawberries in a field in Öland, Sweden.
Alexanderstock23 / Shutterstock

This is consistent with separate research that finds that granting immigrants legal status can lead to significant reductions in criminal activity, and that policies expanding legal access to work can help reduce crime rates among immigrant populations.

In fact, one study from March 2024 that examined long-term trends in the US revealed that immigrants today are much less likely to be imprisoned, compared with the 1960s. The same study attributes this reduction in crime to better work opportunities and more stable family structures among male immigrants. These insights provide a pathway toward policies that value integration over exclusion.

Expanding access to legal work, particularly for asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups, could foster safer communities. But restrictive policies focused on criminalising undocumented immigrants or barring them from employment may, paradoxically, increase crime.

As the US considers its approach to immigration, prioritising causal evidence over fear-driven narratives could pave the way for policies that benefit both immigrants and the communities they join. By fostering economic participation and addressing public misperceptions, we can build fairer, safer societies for all.

What can Paddington Bear’s citizenship journey teach our leaders?
Join The Conversation UK and migration experts in London on November 16 for a screening of Paddington in Peru and a discussion on migration, citizenship and belonging.
Click here for more information and tickets. Läs mer…

The news media in South Africa have a long and dark history of being used to oppress the majority during colonialism and apartheid. In the new context of societal transformation and constitutional democracy since 1994, media diversity is crucial. And the need for ethical journalism is paramount.

Media ethics act as a moral compass guiding journalists, media organisations and regulatory bodies through the twists and turns of news reporting. This is especially important in complex and contested places like South Africa. The importance of media ethics in safeguarding truth, objectivity and public trust cannot be overstated. Ethics help to avoid misinformation, societal polarisation, and the erosion of public faith in the media.

Media scholars such as Eric Louw and Johannes Froneman have examined the challenges of establishing ethical media norms during the period of transition from apartheid in the early 1990s.

As media studies scholars, we have been interested in the ways in which media outlets, which hold others accountable, are able to hold themselves to account. Our recently published study examined the ethical issues identified in rulings by the South African Press Council between January 2018 and December 2022. The council is an independent, voluntary media self-regulation body which adjudicates public complaints against print and online publications in the country.

The press council

provides impartial, expeditious and cost-effective adjudication to settle disputes between newspapers, magazines and online publications, on the one hand, and members of the public, on the other, over the editorial content of publications.

The council uses the South African Press Code to guide journalists in their work. Its press ombud and appeals panel adjudicate complaints against the media. Its services are free.

Read more:
Science journalism in South Africa: social media is helping connect with new readers

Our study analysed 216 rulings by the council, which involved 49 publications and over 150 journalists. For each ruling, we examined the specific sections of the press code cited, the people or organisations making the complaint and the media entities involved. This allowed us to assess how well South Africa’s media adhere to the press code that holds them accountable to the ethical standards expected of them.

Our study is the first to provide a longitudinal and qualitative analysis of the press council’s rulings. In so doing, we tease out the nuances on both the progress made and the challenges that remain in cultivating ethical standards in the South African news media landscape.

Findings

We found that most South African news publications registered with the press council had a good track record in upholding ethical standards.

Over half of the publications that were subject to complaints had only one complaint lodged against them during the five-year period we analysed. Sixteen percent had two, and 16% had seven or more. These journalists were most often accused of not reporting truthfully, accurately, fairly and neutrally.

Author supplied

Most of the allegations against the journalists were dismissed for being without merit. Some complaints were motivated by a general dislike of certain stories, rather than violations by the ethical code by the journalists.

Our study also examined the profile of the complainants. We found that 41% of complainants were individuals. Non-profit organisations accounted for 7%, alleging damage to their reputation, demanding the right of reply, and raising truthfulness issues.

Corporates accounted for 16% of complainants, prioritising reputation matters. Prominent individuals constituted 5% of complainants, and religious figures 15%. They complained mainly about alleged defamation and the right to reply. They claimed the media breached their privacy and were sensationalist.

Read more:
Social media as a teaching tool: South African teachers talk about the new reality

Corporations, celebrities and politicians often employed third parties, such as lawyers and public relations agents, to file complaints, particularly concerning privacy and alleged defamation. We also found that 12% of complainants were government entities, with individual politicians comprising 8% and state-owned entities 7%.

Politicians, government departments and state-owned entities accounted for 27% of all complainants. Further, the data showed that journalists made up less than 1% of complainants.

The final aspect our study considered the specific sections of the press code most frequently cited in complaints. Certain sections of the code were repeatedly cited, indicating key areas of concern. Foremost among these was section 1.1, pertaining to truthfulness, accuracy and fairness in reporting.

This fundamental tenet of journalism was cited in 76% of complaints, although most of these were dismissed. Closely related were sections 1.8 and 1.2, cited in 54% and 53% of complaints, respectively. These sections emphasise the need for journalists to verify information, and to clearly distinguish factual reporting from opinion or speculation.

Finally, section 3.3, concerning dignity and reputation, was another significant point of contention, appearing in nearly half of the complaints. One such case was that of Thembinkosi Joseph Gumede vs Daily Sun. Gumede, a priest at St Augustine’s Church in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal, claimed the publication had defamed him.

The article in question said he mismanaged church funds and members of the congregation wanted him gone. The council ruled that Daily Sun had indeed transgressed sections 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 3.3 of the press code. The newspaper was ordered to retract the story and apologise.

Why this matters

Our study shows that most publications adhere to ethical standards. However, the few with a disproportionate number of complaints need to address systemic issues that may hinder ethical journalism and tarnish the image of the sector as a whole.

Read more:
South Africa’s media have done good work with 30 years of freedom but need more diversity

The fact that the majority of complainants were corporations, politicians and religious figures indicates they are likelier to have the resources and time to devote to the complaint process. This finding is a concern in light of the media regulator needing to serve the wider public interest.

If complaints are dominated by the powerful and elites, it suggests that ordinary citizens may face barriers to having their voices heard. This is due to no fault of the press council. However, it may point to a need for the council to undertake more public awareness campaigns to empower ordinary citizens to use it to hold the media accountable. Läs mer…

Who hasn’t been prescribed antibiotics by a doctor – for a chest infection or perhaps a sore throat? It’s terrifying to think that these infections can become life threatening if the antibiotic drugs needed to treat them stop working.

This is known as antimicrobial resistance. It occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines. Infections become harder to treat. This increases the risk of diseases spreading, severe illness and even death.

Antibiotics were first used just over 100 years ago. Since then they have changed medicine and given people a chance to have a much longer life.

However, the World Heath Organization (WHO) says antimicrobial resistance threatens to undo this medical progress. Infections that are treatable today could become much harder to treat and potentially deadly. It could be like going back to the time before we had antibiotics.

Drug-resistant infections are already estimated to cause 700,000 deaths each year and this could rise to 10 million in 2050 if there are no decisive efforts to contain them.

Antimicrobial resistance leads to more deaths and illness in Africa than any other region.

The Conversation Africa has published several articles about this health threat.

Flies in hospices carry dangerous bacteria

In one article, researchers described collecting flies at three hospices in South African cities. Using new DNA sequencing methods, they found some of the flies carried microbes that are resistant to antibiotics, posing an additional health risk to the vulnerable patients at these facilities.

Read more:
Flies carry bacteria — and some of those are resistant to antibiotics. What we found in three South African hospices

Newborn babies with antibiotic resistance

Scientists at the Oxford INEOS Institute for Antimicrobial Research found newborn babies in three Nigerian hospitals had antibiotic resistant bacteria in their bodies. The bacteria were resistant to an antibiotic called colistin, but neither the babies nor their mothers had been treated with this drug. Colistin is one of the last remaining antibiotics that is still effective in killing bacteria and fighting infections such as pneumonia.

They think mothers may have picked up colistin resistant bacteria from the environment. It’s potentially a very dangerous development for all newborn babies and their mothers.

Read more:
Babies in Nigeria are being born with antibiotic resistant bacteria

Antimicrobials for chickens

Also in Nigeria, researchers found that antimicrobial use and hygiene practices were poor among chicken vendors in markets. Vendors gave antimicrobials to both sick and healthy chickens, without veterinarian prescriptions. Vendors also treated chickens with drugs intended for humans. These practices may make antibiotics less effective for treating bacterial infections in humans.

Read more:
Chickens from live poultry markets in Nigeria could be bad for your health – scientists explain why

Clues in wastewater

Wastewater is usually seen as something undesirable that just needs to be flushed away. But it can be a valuable resource too. Studying wastewater can provide early warnings about potential disease outbreaks, especially those involving resistant microorganisms. Researchers reviewed studies of wastewater surveillance in sub-Saharan Africa and found that most countries in the region lacked the necessary skills for this research.

Read more:
Wastewater is a valuable source of information — Africa’s scientists need to use it to find drug-resistant bacteria

Wise use of antibiotics

Africa bears the brunt of the antimicrobial resistance epidemic, which thrives on inequality and poverty, overcrowded medical wards, inappropriate use of antibiotics and limited access to the right medicines.

With weak regulation, over-the-counter prescription of antibiotics is highly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. In Eritrea, almost 90% of antibiotics are dispensed over the counter.

The African Union has established a body that aims to strengthen research; advocate for policies, laws and good governance; enhance awareness; and engage civil society organisations.

Fighting antimicrobial resistance involves developing new antibiotics and making sure they reach the people who need them.

Above all, it’s crucial to shift attitudes towards antibiotics so that they are used wisely.

Read more:
Antibiotic resistance causes more deaths than malaria and HIV/Aids combined. What Africa is doing to fight this silent epidemic Läs mer…

A vast network of ocean currents nicknamed the “great global ocean conveyor belt” is slowing down. That’s a problem because this vital system redistributes heat around the world, influencing both temperatures and rainfall.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation funnels heat northwards through the Atlantic Ocean and is crucial for controlling climate and marine ecosystems. It’s weaker now than at any other time in the past 1,000 years, and global warming could be to blame. But climate models have struggled to replicate the changes observed to date – until now.

Our modelling suggests the recent weakening of the oceanic circulation can potentially be explained if meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet and Canadian glaciers is taken into account.

Our results show the Atlantic overturning circulation is likely to become a third weaker than it was 70 years ago at 2°C of global warming. This would bring big changes to the climate and ecosystems, including faster warming in the southern hemisphere, harsher winters in Europe, and weakening of the northern hemisphere’s tropical monsoons. Our simulations also show such changes are likely to occur much sooner than others had suspected.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC): what is it and why is it so important? (National Oceanography Centre)

Changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

The Atlantic ocean circulation has been monitored continuously since 2004. But a longer-term view is necessary to assess potential changes and their causes.

There are various ways to work out what was going before these measurements began. One technique is based on sediment analyses. These estimates suggest the Atlantic meridional circulation is the weakest it has been for the past millennium, and about 20% weaker since the middle of the 20th century.

Evidence suggests the Earth has already warmed 1.5ºC since the industrial revolution.

The rate of warming has been nearly four times faster over the Arctic in recent decades.

Meltwater weakens oceanic circulation patterns

High temperatures are melting Arctic sea ice, glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet.

Since 2002, Greenland lost 5,900 billion tonnes (gigatonnes) of ice. To put that into perspective, imagine if the whole state of New South Wales was covered in ice 8 metres thick.

This fresh meltwater flowing into the subarctic ocean is lighter than salty seawater. So less water descends to the ocean depths. This reduces the southward flow of deep and cold waters from the Atlantic. It also weakens the Gulf Stream, which is the main pathway of the northward return flow of warm waters at the surface.

The Gulf Stream is what gives Britain mild winters compared to other places at the same distance from the north pole such as Saint-Pierre and Miquelon in Canada.

Our new research shows meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet and Arctic glaciers in Canada is the missing piece in the climate puzzle.

When we factor this into simulations, using an Earth system model and a high-resolution ocean model, slowing of the oceanic circulation reflects reality.

Our research confirms the Atlantic overturning circulation has been slowing down since the middle of the 20th century. It also offers a glimpse of the future.

As they travel northwards, the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Current cool as they lose heat to the atmosphere. The waters then become dense enough to sink to depth and form North Atlantic deep water, which travels southward at depth and feeds the other ocean basins.
Modified from Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2020)

Connectivity in the Atlantic Ocean

Our new research also shows the North and South Atlantic oceans are more connected than previously thought.

The weakening of the overturning circulation over the past few decades has obscured the warming effect in the North Atlantic, leading to what’s been termed a “warming hole”.

When oceanic circulation is strong, there is a large transfer of heat to the North Atlantic. But weakening of the oceanic circulation means the surface of the ocean south of Greenland has warmed much less than the rest.

Reduced heat and salt transfer to the North Atlantic has meant more heat and salt accumulated in the South Atlantic. As a result, the temperature and salinity in the South Atlantic increased faster.

Our simulations show changes in the far North Atlantic are felt in the South Atlantic Ocean in less than two decades. This provides new observational evidence of the past century slow-down of the Atlantic overturning circulation.

The addition of meltwater in the North Atlantic leads to localised cooling in the subpolar North Atlantic and warming in the South Atlantic.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01568-1

What does the future hold?

The latest climate projections suggest the Atlantic overturning circulation will weaken by about 30% by 2060. But these estimates do not take into account the meltwater that runs into the subarctic ocean.

The Greenland ice sheet will continue melting over the coming century, possibly raising global sea level by about 10 cm. If this additional meltwater is included in climate projections, the overturning circulation will weaken faster. It could be 30% weaker by 2040. That’s 20 years earlier than initially projected.

Such a rapid decrease in the overturning circulation over coming decades will disrupt climate and ecosystems. Expect harsher winters in Europe, and drier conditions in the northern tropics. The southern hemisphere, including Australia and southern South America, may face warmer and wetter summers.

Our climate has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. More rapid melting of the ice sheets will accelerate further disruption of the climate system.

This means we have even less time to stabilise the climate. So it is imperative that humanity acts to reduce emissions as fast as possible. Läs mer…

In a surprise move, the Coalition has announced it will vote against Labor’s bill to cap international student numbers. This follows previous Coalition comments saying it would work with universities to “put a cap on foreign students”.

The Greens opposed caps from the start. Between them, the Coalition and the Greens have a Senate majority, which means the Albanese government’s plan to cap international students seems dead.

For universities, TAFEs, private colleges and potential international students, this news will be cause for relief, but not celebration.

There are multiple other measures still in place to reduce international student numbers. The Coalition has also previously committed to capping international student numbers in the major cities.

So while the Coalition has now opposed Labor’s student caps, it is not opposed to the idea of caps altogether.

What did the caps bill propose?

The proposed bill would have given the education minister wide powers to cap international student enrolments by education provider, campus and course.

For 2025, the caps would have applied to enrolments that were new to the education provider.

Apart from students in exempt categories (such as postgraduate research students), vocational and higher education providers would have been allocated 270,000 commencing enrolments between them.

Exemptions make it difficult to compare the proposed 2025 cap with previous years, but during a Senate hearing earlier this month, the government gave 323,000 commencing enrolments as a comparable 2023 figure.

Separate formulas were going to apply for international student places in public universities, private universities and non-university higher education providers as well as vocational education institutes. The impact of Labor’s caps would have been uneven. This includes a small overall cut for public universities compared to 2023, with bigger reductions for other education providers.

Education Minister Jason Clare has been trying to get parliamentary approval for his bill to introduce international student caps.
Mick Tsikas/AAP

The Coalition has been critical of the bill

During Senate hearings into the bill, and in their subsequent comments in the Senate inquiry report, Liberal senators attacked the disproportionate effects of the proposed caps on private education providers.

For some, their financial viability would be threatened. The Coalition highlighted a pilot training academy that could not survive with its capped number of international students. It would have to break contracts with international airlines.

Vocational and higher education regulators also shared their concerns about the impact on providers’ finances.

Education providers going out of business would put pressure on the Tuition Protection Service. This is a government-run but education provider-funded scheme that finds new courses for students of failed education providers or pays refunds.

While affected international students eventually get a new course or their money back, provider collapses can cause them significant stress and delay.

What might the Coalition do instead?

The Coalition’s Senate inquiry report also gives some guidance about how they would approach caps if they won the 2025 federal election.

It singled out the “excessive number” of international students flowing into Australia’s most prestigious universities, especially in Sydney and Melbourne.

“We respectfully suggest”, their comments say, “a number of Group of Eight universities have lost sight of their core mission”. The Coalition says that core mission is providing Australian students with high value tertiary qualifications.

The Coalition favourably quoted Deakin University (not a Group of Eight member), which voluntarily capped international students at 35% of total enrolments. Deakin talked about “getting the balance right” between local and overseas students.

This approach may signal a future Coalition policy for capping public universities. It tackles total international student numbers – with their affect on Australia’s population and consequent pressures on accommodation and other services – and more specific concerns about the student experience when international students dominate classes.

The Coalition has also signalled it may restrict visas for the partners and children of students.

Coalition education spokesperson Sarah Henderson says the government’s bill is ‘chaotic and confused’.
Mick Tsikas/AAP

What will Labor do now?

Labor had said if the caps bill passed it would repeal “ministerial direction 107”, a decision by former Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil in December 2023 on the processing of student visa applications. Now this repeal will not happen.

Ministerial direction 107 repurposed an existing risk rating, which determined how much evidence must be provided with a student visa application. Under the direction, visa applications for students from low-risk providers – whose students have low rates of visa refusals or cancellations or subsequent overstays in Australia – received visa processing priority. In practice, ministerial direction 107 favoured the more prestigious universities.

Ministerial direction 107 is widely hated by international education providers. They blame it for student numbers and revenues falling in 2024.

While the direction undoubtedly delays visa processing for higher-risk providers, its effects are conflated with the multiple other changes to visa policy since late 2023.

Ending ministerial direction 107 would still leave in place changes such as student visa applicants needing to prove a higher financial capacity, increased English language requirements, more than doubling the non-refundable visa application fee, and restrictions on onshore student visa applications.

The government could also reduce the total resources it devotes to processing student visas, which would slow the inflow of students for all providers. As my analysis shows the number of visas processed between January and August 2024 (including both grants and rejections) were only 5% lower than pre-COVID in 2019. This could be cut further.

Labor also has unfinished business on the incentives for international students to choose Australia. For nearly a year it has been foreshadowing changes to the permanent migration system that would remove points categories international students have relied on. This could include points for studying in a regional area, for undertaking professional development years and perhaps points for studying in Australia. This would be a blow to demand from migration-sensitive source countries, such as India and Nepal.

The political troubles of international education are not over

Given the Coalition’s previous statements on international student caps, their current position is a surprise.

But it does not change their overall policy goal of restricting international student numbers. They could cap enrolments in a different way. Labor has not completed its announced reforms to international education and may find other ways to reduce student numbers.

There is more to come in international education policy, whichever party wins the 2025 federal election. Läs mer…

“Safe toilets for all by 2030” is one of the Sustainable Development Goal targets. But, with just more than five years to go until 2030, the United Nations says the world is “seriously off-track … 3.5 billion people still live without safely managed sanitation, including 419 million who practise open defecation”. That includes millions of people across Africa.

On 19 November each year the UN marks World Toilet Day. In 2024, people’s ability to access safe, hygienic toilets is being disrupted by climate change, war and disaster in parts of the continent affected by flooding, climate-induced migration and conflict. The results: cholera outbreaks, sewage spills, and people continuing to suffer the indignity of going without proper toilets.

The Conversation Africa has published a number of articles explaining the continent’s sanitation problems – and potential solutions. Here are six essential reads.

Africa urgently needs more toilets

The lack of proper toilets in many African countries, including Nigeria, Ethiopia, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso and Chad, means that many people are forced to defecate outside.

Through no fault of their own, communities run the risk of getting diseases spread by faeces lying around outside. Having no toilets and using outdoor spaces also means that faeces can contaminate water sources. This spreads waterborne sicknesses to humans and livestock throughout the water and food chain.

Recent research by industrial microbiologist Helen Onyeaka and public health microbiologist Omololu Fagunwa found that defecating outside can also lead to antimicrobial resistance. Bacteria that are resistant to medications spread and antibiotics become useless.

Read more:
There are too few toilets in Africa and it’s a public health hazard – how to fix the problem

Toilet shortages have led to cholera outbreaks

Over the past ten years, nearly 20 African countries have been affected by dozens of cholera outbreaks. Thousands of people have died of this disease, which can kill within hours unless properly treated. Cholera is spread by Vibrio cholerae bacteria through contaminated water or food in areas with poor sanitation.

Those who live in crowded camps for displaced people, areas hit by floods and urban informal settlements are most at risk, as they often have no access even to communal toilets or clean piped water. The problem, argues microbiologist and infectious diseases researcher Samuel Kariuki, is that governments in Africa make only mediocre attempts to provide clean drinking water and toilet facilities in crowded areas.

Read more:
Cholera: how African countries are failing to do even the basics

South African field hospital set up to treat cholera victims in 2023.
SHIRAAZ Mohamed/AFP/Getty Images

In South Africa, a cholera outbreak claimed the lives of 47 people in Hammanskraal in 2023. This, after piped water became contaminated with cholera. This year, the country has edged further towards a sanitation-caused public health crisis. Rivers in the country’s industrial heartland province have been flooded with raw sewage by local government authorities following a widespread breakdown of sanitation systems.

Water management expert Anja du Plessis has found that preventing cholera is not a matter of merely encouraging individuals to wash their hands more. Cholera outbreaks will continue to happen unless each person has enough clean water for drinking, bathing, using the toilet, cooking, washing clothes and keeping their home clean. The World Health Organization estimates this bare minimum to be between 50 and 100 litres of person per day.

Read more:
Cholera in South Africa: a symptom of two decades of continued sewage pollution and neglect

Neglected public toilets in Nigeria.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images

Nigeria is also plagued by sanitation problems. Many of these stem from outside communal toilets and poor drainage systems, which allow sewage to pile up in the open. Residents in Nigeria’s coastal regions have even told town and urban planner Seun Olowoporoku that the lack of toilets is a bigger problem for them than frequent oil spillage, gas flaring, air and water pollution and agricultural land contamination.

Some of the major concerns of residents surveyed for this research were that disease was spreading from open defecation and that it was not safe for them to walk to toilets built outside their homes.

Read more:
Oil hazards aren’t the main worry of Nigeria’s coastal residents: toilets are

How to solve Africa’s toilet problems

Some solutions are on the horizon. But they will require government investment and political will. In South Africa, only 65% of the population have flush toilets, while another 32% use pit toilets. And 30 years of austerity measures mean water and sanitation systems that should have been extended and well maintained to serve a growing population have instead been left to collapse.

Compost toilet.
Dogong/Shutterstock

Together with drought, the water shortages caused by collapsing systems means it makes more sense for the government to roll out non-sewered sanitation, such as dry toilets, which don’t need to be flushed. Composting toilets are another example of dry toilets that do not flush.

Water, sanitation and hygiene research scientist Preyan Arumugam-Nanoolal has found that the more research and development is done into safe and clean toilets that do not need water to flush, the cheaper and more advanced these dry toilets will become over time.

Read more:
Flushing toilets aren’t the solution to South Africa’s sanitation problem

About 570 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live without proper sanitation. Urine-diverting dry toilets could be one solution, found environmental engineers Mooyoung Han and Shervin Hashemi.

These innovative toilets were designed by the researchers specially for crowded cities where toilets are in short supply. They separate urine and faeces, diverting the two forms of waste into tanks where microbes turn it into fertiliser. This does away with the need for flushing toilets that use water which is not always available and expensive wastewater treatment plants further down the sanitation chain.

Read more:
Some smart ideas to make toilets fit for purpose in Africa’s cities Läs mer…

Melbourne Theatre Company’s My Brilliant Career is a musical re-imagining of Miles Franklin’s classic 1901 novel of the same name. It follows a young woman, Sybylla Melvyn, as she chafes against her rural constraints to seek creative freedom.

A headstrong young woman, Sybylla dreams of becoming a writer despite her family’s poverty and society’s expectations of marriage. She ultimately rejects a marriage proposal from wealthy squatter Harold Beecham, choosing her independence and artistic aspirations over conventional romance and security. But this decision comes at a personal cost.

With libretto by Sheridan Harbridge and Dean Bryant, music by Mathew Frank, lyrics by Bryant and musical direction and arrangements by Victoria Falconer, this new, contemporary take on the book was developed over five years (initially supported by the NEXT STAGE writers’ program).

Born from a shared experience of the writers’ rural upbringings, the production is an example of what can happen when shows and artists are afforded the time to develop works organically and with care.

The show’s actors double as its instrumentalists.
Pia Johnson

A fine ensemble

In the Sumner Theatre, the music begins before the show starts.

Initially, a small trio plays on stage while the audience enters. Over time, other musicians drift on, joining in on violin, keys, drums, cello and more. These actor-musicians, all dressed in period costume with long skirts and cinched-in waists, are multi-instrumentalists who also play the show’s characters.

At first I’m a little discombobulated by the playful and intense energy: I have a thorough crush on Franklin’s original novel, and no less affection for the 1979 film starring Judy Davis. Once I let go of my attachments, however, I’m able to settle into – and thoroughly enjoy – this delightful musical.

The fine ensemble is competent, physical and highly skilled, with a wonderfully spirited complicité. The clarity of character and relationship between the cast members is testament to Anne-Louise Sarks’ expert direction.

Versatility and panache

Kala Gare plays the role of Sybylla Melvyn – who just wants art and music and books – with a precocious, teenage ebullience.

Gare is a versatile actor and indie musician and her effervescent performance is undercut with a good dose of raucous feminist sass. She totally grows on me, comically framing her joyful portrayal of Sybylla with wry asides to the audience: (“I am being overwhelmed by my hot untamed spirit!”).

Kala Gare delivers a sassy, high-energy performance as Sybylla Melvyn.
Pia Johnson

Gare readily shifts through performance styles – from poignant piano ballads, to thrashing hard rock, to cheeky all-singing, all-dancing numbers, with panache.

Her singer/songwriter vocal delivery is quite different to some of the other ensemble members, who happily dwell in the “belter” musical theatre category. Nonetheless, the voices are integrated well.

Other standouts include Raj Labade as the smooth-voiced, charismatic Harry/Harold, and the delightful Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward as Frank, who brings the house down with a brilliantly over-the-top number You’re Better Than a Beauty, Baby: You’re a Brick.

Raj Labade plays Harry, Sybylla’s love interest.
Pia Johnson

Precise and choreographed physicality

Amy Campbell’s choreography makes the most of the ensemble’s physicality. Rather than being confined to the orchestra pit or relegated backstage, the performers inhabit the space with embodied and grounded presence. They move fluidly through and around the stage with precise, choreographed synchronicity.

I love to see performers who are confident in movement. In this instance the choreography shines, with many fine moments of comic physical timing and still tableaux with bodies and props.

Marg Horwell’s set is full of lushly delivered surprises. It features sparkling chandeliers, brightly coloured ribboned backdrops and spectacular flower cascades.

The costumes are similarly plush, with high Victorian-era necklines, extreme ruffles, outlandish winged cravats and fitted bodices rendered larger than life by the use of oversized shoulder pads.

The magic of the theatre is hilariously disrupted as straight-faced stage managers wittingly walk onto the stage to help dress actors, or supplying new props, in the midst of the action.

Melbourne Theatre Company puts a contemporary spin on Miles Franklin’s 1901 novel.
Pia Johnson

Smart, funny and thoroughly entertaining

Some of the show’s musical numbers are more successful than others. The “Australian larrikin” vibe is occasionally a bit overcooked, or undermined by unnecessarily saccharine phrases. The second act also doesn’t quite maintain the exuberant energy of the first.

That said, the overall production guarantees audiences a smart, funny and thoroughly entertaining experience that doesn’t lessen the impact of Franklin’s story.

My Brilliant Career is a refreshing reinvention of a timeless classic. The production’s success lies in its ability to honour the source material while infusing it with contemporary energy and wit.

It’s a wonderful reminder of what can be achieved when creative labour is properly resourced and carefully considered. Läs mer…

It’s a universally acknowledged truth that a geriatric millennial in possession of a Scholastic book club catalogue and a television must have been a fan of Paul Jennings back in the 1980s and ‘90s.

I devoured Jennings’ short story collections, particularly the Un and Gizmo series. They were the perfect mix of silly and subversive, and always captured the awkwardness of being a kid.

After school, my brother and I would curl up and turn the TV dial to Channel 2, SAO crackers with butter and Vegemite in hand, and watch the Twist family get into all sorts of scrapes. I was particularly fond of Pete and his floppy blonde bowl cut.

So, when I found out there was a Round The Twist stage show in development – a musical, no less – I knew it would be for me.

I was, however, interested in how much the material would translate for a new generation. Would it just be a nostalgic trip to the lighthouse for the recently middle-aged, or would Generation Alpha get on board? In the interest of research, I borrowed a ten-year-old (my nephew Hugo) for the evening and off we went to the theatre.

Round the Twist ran from 1990 to 2001, eventually becoming an Aussie children’s television staple.
Lyndon Mechielsen

Meeting the Twist gang

I needn’t have been concerned. Paul Hodge’s book and music, and Simon Phillips’ direction, have perfectly captured the heart of the original material in its sense of humour, its uniquely Australian sensibility, its focus on community and its downright weirdness.

We meet the Twist Family – dad Tony (Matt Hetherington) and kids Pete (Hanlon Innocent), Linda (Charly Oakley) and Bronson (played at opening by Edison Ai) as they arrive in the fictional town of Port Niranda, seeking a sea change and some “fresh air” (although Bronson’s flatulence soon puts an end to that).

The central characters put me at ease. They are earthy, charming and immediately read as a family shaped by both love and tragedy.

The young Edison Ai (centre) shines in the role of Bronson Twist, the youngest child in the family.
Lyndon Mechielsen

We soon meet the locals, including the lighthouse keeper with secrets, Nell Rickards (Christen O’Leary), and the mayoral power couple Harold and Mrs Gribble (played with high camp by David James and Tarita Botsman).

We also meet Bronson’s teacher Fay James (Liz Buchanan). Fay walks straight into Tony’s life and heart, but are the kids ready to accept a new stepmum? This storyline provides the emotional heft of the play, with Bronson’s resistance and Fay’s vulnerability authentically portrayed by Ai and Buchanan respectively.

We also meet the kids of Port Niranda. The local gang includes James Gribble (an athletic Nic Van Lits) and his offsiders, the mouth-breathing Rabbit (Carlo Boumouglbay) and the scrappy Tiger (Carla Beard).

Rounding out the cast are the objects of the two elder Twists’ affection, Fiona (Taylah Johns) and Andrew (Alex Tye). While these two actors are a little underused, both have enormous charm.

Dazzling design and musically brilliant

What separates Round The Twist from just another charming Aussie dramedy, however, is the supernatural, spooky and silly phenomena for which Jennings is famous.

The central mystery of the play includes mysterious music emanating from the lighthouse, a missing painting, a circus troupe, a pissed-off mermaid (Laura Raineri), a poltergeist pooch and a toilet ghost (one of Bryan Probets’ numerous roles).

The Twist kids sing and dance their way to solving the mystery, while navigating school crushes, evading property developers, enduring embarrassing encounters and battling their foes with the power of foot odour (up the pong!).

All this is enhanced by Renee Mulder’s brilliant design work and Craig Wilkinson’s video design. Projected images are essential to the magical realism of the piece. They resemble the animation style of Terry Gilliam, but never lose their distinctly Australian flavour.

The music is both catchy and clever, with the original theme tune also made part of the plot.
Lyndon Mechielsen

The music is catchy and the lyrics clever. In general, the high-energy, comic pieces work better than the ballads. That said, Linda (Oakley) and Andrew’s (Tye) duet in act two is genuinely moving.

There were a couple of moments where young Bronson (Ai) missed a musical cue, but he was well-supported by the cast and the (excellent) band to find his place and carry on. It should be noted Bronson carries much of the play on his young shoulders. Ai is an absolute standout in the role.

And if you, like me, are a fan of the earworm that is the TV series theme tune (composed by Andrew Duffield), never fear! It is not only included, but is integral to the plot.

Old stories through new eyes

But what did the ten-year-old nephew think? He laughed until he cried at Pete’s (Innocent) predicament towards the end of act one, which I won’t spoil here. He gasped and bounced in his seat and praised the “smart writing”. I can only hope he will now discover and devour Jennings’ original books.

My nephew Hugo laughed, gasped and bounced in his seat at the spectacles on stage.
Lyndon Mechielsen

For me, the joy was in seeing so many young professionals in the cast holding their own with veterans of Australia’s theatre scene. Hearing them sing so authentically in their own voices, while telling a story that is so quintessentially Australian, reiterated to me how important it is for local arts companies to invest in and champion homegrown musical theatre.

And aside from that, it was the most fun I’ve had at the theatre all year! Läs mer…

The Senate has censured two of its own, Lidia Thorpe and Ralph Babet, both of whom were absent when the votes were taken because of problems with their flights to Canberra.

Thorpe, a crossbencher who defected from the Greens, was condemned for her disruption of the parliamentary reception during King Charles’ visit.

Babet, the sole parliamentary representative of Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party, was condemned for a disgusting social media post.

The censure against Babet went through on the voices. That against Thorpe was carried overwhelmingly, but the Greens, ACT Senator David Pocock and Nationals Matt Canavan voted against.

Canavan spoke on both motions, objecting to their being considered in the senators’ absence. Pocock didn’t speak but had a similar objection.

The motions were moved by Senate leader Penny Wong and supported by the opposition.

Thorpe said after the vote that her flight had been delayed, and “I was denied my right to be in that chamber whilst everybody else voted to shut me down”.

Thorpe said she didn’t “give a damn” about the censure. “In fact, I’m going to use it for kindling later on in the week.”

Senator Fatima Payman, previously a Labor senator but now on the crossbench, condemned the government for proceeding with the motion against Thorpe despite the fact her plane was delayed.

The censure against Thorpe said her protest had been “disrespecful” and “disruptive”.

It called on all senators to refrain from “inflammatory and divisive actions” both inside and outside the chamber.

It said  in light of her conduct, it was not appropriate for Thorpe  to represent the Senate  as a member of a delegation during the rest of this parliament.

Babet had shared a clip from Andrew Tate, and posted “In my house we say phaggot [sic], retard and n—-r. We are sick of you woke ass clowns. Cry more. Write an article. Tweet about me. No one cares what you think”.

The motion censuring Babet condemned him for “his inflammatory use of hate speech designed to drive division for his own  political benefit”.

The notion “assures all Australians that no matter their race, religion, gender, sex, or sexuality that they are  valued, welcome members of our society”.  

It said there could be “no tolerance for hate speech in the course of parliamentarians’ public debate.”

It called on “all senators to engage in debates and commentary respectfully, and to refrain from inflammatory and divisive comments” at all times. Läs mer…