First some fun – the archaeologists are checking out the Greenham Women’s Camp… “helped to rediscover a forgotten outpost of the protest. This was the previously unrecorded Emerald Gate camp, where a few women directly monitored Gama – the Ground-launched missiles Alert and Maintenance Area – the other side of the base’s famous fence. The carefully hidden nook, with fragments of “bender” shelters and a fire pit, are compared in the survey to a long tradition of spying points in communities studied by archaeologists.”
And scientists, after poo-pooing it for years – have rediscovered something about dogs any owner could have told them – they feel jealousy. “Psychologists previously believed most animals lack the “sense of self” needed to experience so-called secondary emotions such as jealousy, embarrassment, empathy or guilt. These emotions are more complex than feelings associated with instant reaction – such as anger, lust or joy.” One more claim for primate exceptionalism falls…
Then the “why am I not surprised” category – pigs in Ireland at the centre of the current food scare were fed waste bread still in its plastic bags. Which can’t have been healthy for them… (although if the dioxins actually come from the plastic – well hope you’ve been easting home-baked bread!) A “return to organics” anyone?
And a sad tale of the individual pain (and probably cross-generation health damage) caused by the huge leap in unemployment in the US. Of course in America, with your job comes your health care – and maternity care. So one mother had her labour induced early in time to still be covered – but it all went medically wrong, and the insurance company says it won’t pay anyway. A great example of how the American medical system warps care.
But good news from Manchester, where the local community is fiercely resisting the intrusion of that system and its corporations into the NHS. (As indeed, I’m pleased to say, the community in Camden.)
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