Showing posts with label public health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public health. Show all posts

Saturday, July 04, 2026

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Hamilton Nolan writes about the inherent conflict between the politics of centrist inaction and the serious and urgent problems which require courageous and immediate solutions. And John Michael McGrath points out the problems with Mark Carney's climate strategy of eliminating emission reductions, pouring public funds into dirty fossil fuels, and hoping some electrification plan materializes despite his pushing policy in the opposite direction. 

- Meanwhile, Noelle Corbett reports that in contrast to the multitude of negative externalities caused by fossil fuel extraction and consumption, solar farms can create significant positive effects including benefiting wildlife and biodiversity.  

- Ellyn Lapointe discusses how the Trump regime's attacks on science in general and meteorology in particular have reduced the U.S.' capacity to forecast the extreme weather events exacerbated by the climate breakdown. Giedre Peseckyte reports on the WHO's call to treat extreme heat as a public health crisis. And Hanna Lee points out the causes of Canada's particularly wild weather so far in the summer of 2026. 

- Finally, Mike Brock examines the radical anti-democratic movement being pushed by Peter Thiel and other billionaires and elites seeking to eliminate any prospect of decision-making by and for the citizenry. And Adam Serwer highlights how the Republican attack on birthright citizenship in the U.S. reflects the underlying goal of undermining any sense of equal rights. 

Sunday, June 28, 2026

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Gregg Gonsalves discusses the Trump regime's plan to politicize every single dollar of federal revenue and expenditure in the U.S., setting up a ruthlessly efficient mechanism for executive grift and extortion at the expense of democratically-determined decision-making. Which means that Americans already struggling to keep afloat can only expect matters to get worse as long as Trump and his courtiers hold power. And Will Saletan highlights how the U.S.' foreign policy is similarly aimed at enriching Trump rather than any national or humanitarian interest. 

- Meanwhile, Kim Kelly points out the dark historical parallels to the unconscionable sentences for guilt by association applied to the Prairieland political prisoners. Matthew Gault reports on the criminalization of dissent in the form of merely speaking out against data centres at a public meeting. And Sean O'Kane reports on yet another techbro - this time Peter Diamandis - stating the public intention to inflict unaccountable surveillance on the general public in order to keep people in line. 

- Julia Jacobo discusses the increasing number of people facing heat stress around the globe, while Ajit Niranjan comments on the lack of preparation for global warming which has long been predicted. And Michael Le Page warns that there's far worse to come due both to the damage we've already done to our living environment, and our absolute failure to rein in the carbon pollution that's causing it to break down. 

- Meanwhile, if anybody needed a reminder that responsible policy can eradicate avoidable risks, Aitor Hernandez-Morales reports on Helsinki's year without a single traffic-related death. And Alexandra Frost reports on the HPV vaccine's success in preventing UK deaths from cervical cancer. 

- Finally, Graeme Bayliss rightly questions why Mark Carney is consistently choosing to copy the Trump regime rather than resisting it as promised. 

Friday, June 26, 2026

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Michael Sainato reports on the California referendum which will see struggling voters get the chance to have their say on taxing billionaires. And Jennifer Rubin points out that progressive policy remains immensely popular in the U.S. generally, even as it's generally ruled out as an option by two generally corporate-dominated parties. 

- The Solar Energy Industries Association notes that solar power is making up the vast majority of new U.S. generation despite the Trump regime's hostility to renewable energy. And CarbonBrief concludes that the UK has seen electric vehicle sales exceed those of ICE vehicles over the course of a full year. 

- James Murray writes about the World Weather Attribution Agency's conclusion that the deadly heat hitting Europe can only be explained by climate change. Zoya Teirstein highlights how the climate crisis affects the human body and threatens public health. And Harriette Boucher reports on the scientific warnings that the climate breakdown will lead to food insecurity in the UK and elsewhere. 

- Christopher Holcroft examines the connection between Mark Carney and the Trump-supporting broligarchy which wants to exacerbate inequality and make human needs subordinate to the desire to turn power over to privately-controlled AI. 

- Finally, Tom Goldsmith writes about the need to push back against the expectation that workers will accept burnout as the price of having a job at all. And C.J. Polychroniou interviews Costas Lapavitsas about the importance of the labour movement as a catalyst for action and change, rather than a mere voting bloc.

Wednesday, June 03, 2026

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Monica Potts writes that Americans' dissatisfaction with their economy has never been about vibes or temporary price spikes, but reflects a lack of both breathing room and security in a system designed for maximum exploitation and minimum support. John Schroyer notes that even limiting one's focus to businesses, there's a radical difference between the profits being hoovered up by a well-connected few and the struggles of smaller actors And Wajahat Ali talks to Chris Smalls about what can be done to organize against the billionaire class and their sycophants. 

- Sarah Todd reports on the American Journal of Public Health's call for governments to make healthy food a policy priority, rather than leaving people to navigate a marketplace of unhealthy slop on their own. 

- Susanna Twidale and William James report on the UK's announcement of plans to drastically cut carbon pollution by 2040. And The Canadian Press reports on the push by Canadian Indigenous groups demanding that the Carney Libs stop trashing federal environmental and climate policy. 

- Finally, Jamelle Bouie writes about the lasting damage being done by the combination of American voters offering Donald Trump a second term, and Trump taking the opportunity to eliminate the concept of government by and for the people. And Thom Hartmann offers a reminder that the background to the U.S.' current decline can be traced back through decades of increasing corporate control. 

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Bill McGuire discusses what the next few decades figure to look like as what's currently considered extreme heat becomes all too normal. And Andrew Gregory reports on the growing recognition that the damage caused by the climate breakdown includes the accelerated spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  

- Stella Levantesi writes about the myth of "green oil" promulgated by Norway's oil industry - which applies equally to greenwashing in Canada's fossil fuel sector. And the Sierra Club points out that a strong plurality of Canadians want to see stronger climate action including a strengthened industrial carbon price - even as Mark Carney goes in the opposite direction. 

- Chris Hoffman discusses the problems with online age verification requirements even in the hands of well-meaning organizations and officials. And Matt Novak writes about new polling showing strong U.S. public opposition to surveillance pricing.  

- Nico Schmidt, Ella Joyner and Conor O'Carroll highlight how tech giants have lobbied to conceal basic facts about the environmental damage done by data centres. And Don Moynihan writes that the Trump regime's sense of entitlement to total secrecy and impunity has reached the stage of demanding a non-disclosure agreement from every single U.S. federal employee. 

-  Finally, Wes Streeting rebuts Blair's demand that human well-being be left entirely in the hands of distorted and irrational markets rather than being a crucial purpose of democratic government. 

Saturday, May 16, 2026

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Simon Mundy examines the growing recognition that the combination of solar power and batteries - both of which are plummeting in price - makes for a more reliable and efficient power supply than relying on fossil fuels. And Dan McCarthy zeroes in on the rapid installation of grid-scale batteries in particular. 

- Karl Nerenberg writes about Mark Carney's determination to subsidize dying industries rather than working toward a transition toward the energy sources of the future. And Jimmy Thomson calls out the Orwellian nature of the attempt to label export subsidies and emission deregulation as a climate policy. 

- Which isn't to say some windfall profits aren't being made while people are trapped in fossil fuel dependency. On that front, Amy Fan and Rebecca Elliott discuss the winners and losers of the oil price shock caused by Donald Trump's war of choice in Iran - with the U.S. and Russia emerging as the main profiteers. 

- Anna Bawden reports on an expert recommendation that the climate crisis be labeled and dealt with as a global public health emergency. 

- Finally, Charlie Warzel warns that the plan of AI carnival barkers is to overwhelm us so we can't resist reliance on it - even as he highlights the absurdity of its supposed benefits. And John Ainger reports on the sharp power price increases being inflicted on the public as AI data centres use far more energy than can manageably be spared. 

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Carl Meyer explains how the Carney Libs are looking to push resource extraction at the expense of social and environmental realities to an extent beyond even the Harper Cons. And Corporate Europe Observatory criticizes the European Commission for likewise trashing needed regulations and subsidizing fossil fuels. 

- Meanwhile, Keith Brooks calls Mark Carney out for managing to turn even an electrification strategy into a means of prolonging fossil fuel dependency. And Alex Ballingall reports that after scrapping nearly every other means of limiting carbon pollution other than the industrial carbon price, Carney is now allowing Danielle Smith to undermine that.

- And in case anybody was under the illusion that there aren't superior alternatives to fossil fuels already available, Ben Feshbach, Ellie Garland and Julia Meisel highlight how the U.S. (like Canada) has immense geothermal power potential which is going unused due to the policy choice to favour dirty energy. 

- Elizabeth Elder and Neal O'Brien study the polarization of health outcomes in the U.S., as the anti-science ideology of Republicans is systematically resulting in shorter and sicker lives. And Joe Vipond, Dick Zoutman and Kashif Pirzada warn that the scattered response to the ongoing hantavirus outbreak signals that we've utterly failed to learn necessary lessons from previous contagions. 

- Finally, Maximillian Alvarez discusses how the wealthiest few are using their riches to try to untether us from reality. And Atrios rightly notes that in the case of Donald Trump and his ilk, the only responsible media response is to preface any coverage with a warning about their history of lying. 

Saturday, April 25, 2026

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Rita Bhowmick writes about the importance of care services both in keeping people healthy and ensuring equitable work opportunities. And Steven Lewis examines the dishonesty and gaslighting behind the destruction of public Medicare in by the UCP, while Kaylene Duttchen and Paul Parks point out the consistent body of evidence showing that private and for-profit medicine only draws resources away from the care people actually need.  

- Runting Li et al. study (PDF) the connection between the proliferation of microplastics and nanoplastics, and the proliferation of brain tumours. 

- Donal Gill offers a warning about the dangers of making political and social decisions to serve the interests of tech giants pushing AI propaganda rather than people. Jessica Winter highlights the community efforts to keep AI from take over education systems. And Nilay Patel discusses how "software brain" is causing immense changes without people recognizing what's happening. 

- The New York Times' editorial board rightly warns that the return of measles presages far worse diseases making a comeback due to the anti-science attack on vaccinations. And the Boston Globe reports on the growing number of Americans suffering from long COVID. 

- Finally, Heather Scoffield reports on the false promise of Canada's disability tax credit which (along with associated supports) has been designed to be unavailable to most people who actually qualify.  

Friday, April 10, 2026

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Catherine Rampell highlights how Donald Trump's economy is divided starkly between profiteering insiders and exploited chumps. Andrew Feinberg reports on Trump's plans to issue blanket pardons to facilitate criminal activity by his staff. And Mark Chadbourn writes about the dangers of a humiliated despot. 

- Jonathan Mingle writes that the oil shocks arising out of the Iran war stand to be far worse than those which largely defined the 1970s. But in case anybody wanted to pretend there's no alternative David Roberts talks to Lauren Flanagan about the development of "ruggedized" solar power to replace dirty energy in situations that require quick or remote deployment. 

- Ashleigh Furlong reports on new research showing that the ongoing cost of long COVID in OECD countries alone is upwards of twelve figures each year. And Devi Shastri and Laura Ungar report on tragic plight of babies who aren't yet eligible for vaccines who are at increasing risk due to the avoidable spread of measles.

- Finally, Christo Aivalis calls out Mark Carney for welcoming bigotry and anti-science quackery into the Libs' tent.  

Friday, March 27, 2026

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Robert Reich examines how the uber-wealthy have undermined any pretense of decision-making in the public interest - and how political financing rules and more progressive taxes are both needed to reverse the trend. And Lindsay Beyerstein notes that the most important lesson to be drawn from the Epstein files is the intolerable danger of allowing people to be so rich as to avoid any potential for accountability. 

- Andrew Coyne discusses how the Trump regime's plans for Canada involve dismemberment at best as any independence or values are seen as a threat to U.S. dominance. Which makes it all the more galling to see Mark Carney using the power won with the promise of "elbows up!" to subsidize continued fossil fuel dependence, allow American-driven AI hype to override any consideration of the future of our planet, and throw money at projects designed to hand more of our natural resources to the country threatening our sovereignty.

- Meanwhile, Max Fawcett notes that the fossil fuel lobby which has such a stranglehold on our country's politics is plainly living in the past. And Michael Mann discusses how the war in Iran is only accelerating the transition to clean energy for countries who aren't bent on supplicating themselves before Trump. 

- Similarly, Matteo Wong and Charlie Warzel take a look at the numerous obvious weak spots in the AI bubble. And Ed Zitron examines the laughable economics behind the self-serving declarations of inevitability and infinite potential.  

- Finally, Joe Vipond, Dick Zoutman and Stephane Bilodeau lament the continued refusal to recognize COVID as airborne due to a general distaste for the basic mitigation steps associated with that reality. 

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Paul Krugman notes that Donald Trump has upended the theory that presidential influence on the economy is overstated, as every new difficulty facing the U.S. can be traced to his deliberate choices. And Richard Bookstaber discusses how the global economy may be headed toward much worse than the 2008 crisis, even as Alexis Lapp reports on Trump's plans to reverse the few public protections put in place after that occurred. 

- Meanwhile, Owen Jones writes that the Iran war has destroyed any pretense that the U.S.' is a global leader rather than a bully. And Jan Dehn discusses the prospect that the Iran war will serve as the death knell for fossil fuel dependency, while George Monbiot reminds us that our current reliance on dirty energy has only fuelled the rise of dictators. 

- Eric Dolan writes about new research on the effect of electronic interruptions - with constant notifications serving as a more problematic disruption than screen time alone. The Associated Press reports on Canada's descent in the Wellbeing Research Centre's global happiness rankings, with the effects of heavy social media media use among young people identified as a major cause. And James Densley and Jillian Peterson discuss how the profile of mass shooters increasingly reflects younger people radicalized by an online culture of performative violence.

-  Finally, Meghan Bartels examines new research showing that the death toll from COVID-19 in the U.S. has likely been severely underestimated due to a reluctance to test for the disease. 

Sunday, March 01, 2026

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Mark Kreidler notes that people from around the globe are staying away from the U.S. in droves - due to both the risk of being a foreigner in a country looking to detain anybody fitting that description, and the desire to avoid rewarding a rogue regime. And Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson write about the increasing number of Americans choosing to leave the U.S. rather than suffering under the violence and corruption of the Trump administration. 

- Sadiq Khan highlights how UK Labour has only hurt itself by imposing right-wing bigotry as policy rather than giving effect to the progressive values of its base. And Justin Ling questions Mark Carney's cheerleading for the U.S.' wars of conquest, while Lloyd Axworthy discusses how Carney has chosen to enable (and indeed embrace) U.S. aggression in violation of international law. 

- Ajit Niranjan reports on the shocking loss of marine life as a result of the climate breakdown, with drops in marine biomass of up to 20% in a single year. Greg Harman discusses new modeling showing that over 2% of all deaths in a Texas summer - numbering up to a thousand in any given year - can be traced back to extreme heat caused by global warming. And Sadie Harley examines how carbon dioxide levels in the human body are increasing dangerously. 

- Hayley Smith discusses yet another pernicious application of artificial intelligence, as fabricated "public comments" were used by a California environmental authority as reason not to phase out fossil gas appliances. 

- Finally, Erika Edwards reports on the tens of millions of dollars in traceable losses caused by the anti-vaxxers' choice to spread measles in the U.S. - while hinting at far more severe damage which may never be observable. 

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Ana Marie Cox discusses how Jeffrey Epstein was able to amass influence and commit atrocities by sharing the discriminatory and dehumanizing values with his targets. Solani Kolakhtar notes that the Epstein class consists entirely of wealthy and privileged people using anti-elite messaging to distract from their own contempt for and exploitation of the general public. And Jamelle Bouie talks to Andrea Pitzer about the nature of concentration camps as means of treating disfavoured people into things to be warehoused. 

- Sam Freedman highlights the challenges for governments in trying to reach any meaningful proportion of the public in a media environment which is both fragmented into numerous technical channels, yet still largely controlled by the wealthy few. And John Herrman weighs in on Elon Musk's deliberate choice to use X to breed hatred and bigotry, while Justin Hendrix talks to Jose Marichal about the importance of challenging the implicit algorithmic contract underlying our interaction with major social media sites.

- Joseph Stiglitz, Monica Geingos and Michael Marmot warn that inequality will make the next pandemic worse (even as the right's attacks on science and public health mean it will likely happen sooner). And McKenzie Beard offers a summary of how various communicable diseases spread, as well as how best to mitigate risk at the individual level. 

- Finally, Phillip Inman reports on a new study showing how the arbitrary elimination of remote work options has a disproportionate effect on people with disabilities as well as people relied upon to perform care work. 

 

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Victor Pickard writes about the multiple layers of media capture which have collectively undermined access to accurate information across U.S. sources. 

- Ajit Niranian highlights how the EU is stifling any attention to the climate crisis (and indeed pushing a deregulatory agenda) even as the climate breakdown causes increasingly frequent disasters. 

- Gita Jackson offers an important distinction between being opposed to technological progress, and criticizing its use as a means of exploitation. And Jurgen Geuter comments on the challenge of trying to live ethically when the world is largely set up to preclude action other than through problematic means.  

- Meanwhile, Georgia Wells reports on OpenAI's awareness that the Tumbler Ridge shooter was plotting out violence dating back to last year - and its decision not to alert law enforcement or take any other steps to protect the public. And Victor Tangermann examines the alarm bells sounding among investors who are recognizing the implausibility that massive AI-related expenses will produce any returns.

- Finally, Frank Landymore reports on Stanford's development of a "universal vaccine formula" which could protect against multiple respiratory diseases - if it's not blocked by RFJ Jr. and his anti-vaxxers. 

Sunday, February 15, 2026

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- John Ripton writes about the connection between the egregious concentration of wealth and the rise of fascist politics. And Virginia Heffernan points out how the uber-rich have used their wealth to fund eugenics, while Kristen Toussaint discusses their similar obsession with climate denialism. 

- Meanwhile, Lucas Amin and Peter Geoghegan examine how corporate donations - particularly from companies under the control of extremely wealthy individuals - are distorting UK politics. 

- Jonathan Cohn discusses how the FDA's refusal to even review new vaccines is a threat to health around the globe. And Max Kozlov notes that the Trump regime is scrubbing any suggestion that the U.S.' public health institutions might prepare for or mitigate future disease outbreaks. 

- Charlie Warzel laments the development of nihilist cultures online. But while it's worth pointing out the presence of dangerous actors, Brian Beutler argues that MAGA has never really succeeded in a broad-based culture war.

-  Finally, Duane Bratt makes the case for Alberta to stay in Canada. And Robert Currie points out how there's no legal path to separation through a referendum - though that's exactly why the separatists' collaboration with a Trump regime which operates under a "just try and stop us" mentality is so dangerous and treasonous. 

Saturday, February 14, 2026

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Will Snell points out the connection between extreme wealth and unconscionable impunity as epitomized by Jeffrey Epstein and his elite co-conspirators.  And Joan Wallach Scott writes that the Republican war on gender studies and other social sciences reflects the Epstein class' priority of dehumanizing every other than its own coterie of rich white men. 

- Karl Nerenberg offers a reminder as to why he (and many other Canadians) sees travel to the U.S. as both contrary to principle and intolerably risky. And Karen Pauls reports on polling highlighting how anxious Canadians are about our relationship with the dictatorship next door. 

- Nohemie Bokuma writes about Canada's continued lack of any meaningful AI regulation - even as the Carney Libs focus primarily on cheerleading for artificial intelligence rather than assessing and managing its dangers. And Gabriel Rojas Hruska points out how we can learn from Europe in developing and protecting a Canadian online public square. 

- Danyaal Raza highlights how the problems with Canada's public health care system are already the result of underfunding - meaning that the right's push to direct money into corporate health services is a sure way to make matters worse. And Jack Hauen reports on pain crisis caused by the Ford PCs' slashing and mismanagement of long-term care and home care services. 

 [Edit: deleted Elizabeth Bruenig link.] 

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- David Lurie is rightly appalled by the Trump regime's nihilism, combining insatiable greed for whatever it can seize with a willingness to destroy anything it can't. But Harold Meyerson discusses how Minnesota has managed to force the most violent of Trump's minions into retreat. 

- Dharna Noor reports on Trump's handout to billionaire polluters in the form by making climate denialism official U.S. policy. Andrea Thompson discusses how public health will suffer as a result, while Molly Taft examines the policy chaos which will be created. And each of Katharine Hayhoe and Jonathan Levy et al. review the utter lack of any evidentiary support for Trump's idiocy. 

- Filippo Menczer examines how AI bots can pollute a political information environment to the point of threatening democracy. And Tom Chivers reports on the warnings - and in some cases resignations - of people working on artificial intelligence who see their employers choosing to endanger the public. 

- Alan Elrod writes about the reality that gambling on all manner of political and social outcomes is best set up as the next widespread form of addiction in the U.S. 

- Finally, Leigh Kimmins reports on the details of meetings between Alberta separatists and Trump officials eager to foment unrest and division. And Don Braid discusses both how many Albertans would choose to stay in Canada rather than  surrendering to the U.S., and how federalists are fighting back

Friday, January 16, 2026

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Matt Simon writes that Donald Trump's plans to kill off clean energy are futile in the face of its inexorable progress in price and reliability compared to reliance on fossil fuels. And Mark Gongloff likewise notes that the smart money is on investment in renewable power. 

- The CP's report on Canada's lifting of some tariffs on electric vehicles from China offers a rare indication that Mark Carney isn't entirely averse to being on the right side of the divide. But Maxwell Cameron argues that we have much further to go in opposing Trump's regime as it claims the entitlement to exercise complete and arbitrary control over the Western hemisphere.

- Meanwhile, Sammy Roth discusses how precarious manhood plays a role in fueling opposition to responsible climate policy (among other obviously desirable policy choices).  

- Davis Legree highlights Cory Doctorow's warning that Canada should be protecting itself against the impending collapse of the AI bubble rather than buying into implausible hype. 

- Finally, Eric Dolan reports on new research showing that the lasting effects of COVID-19 may include brain microstructure alterations even in people who otherwise appear to have fully recovered. And Massimo Nunes et al. examine how long COVID and other post-virus diseases may result from endothelial cell dysfunction.

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Thomas Seal and Derek DeCloet warn about the threat the U.S. poses to Canada - including the risk of becoming even more of a vassal state. And Emmett MacFarlane laments that we're lacking moral leadership at precisely the moment when it's most needed. 

- Meanwhile, Franklin Foer writes that the Trump regime is trashing both the U.S.' public sector capacity, and the very idea that an impartial civil service can use its expertise to support the public interest. And Maxine Joselow reports that air pollution regulation is the latest area in which the Republican regime is absolutely devaluing human life and public health in order to cater to destructive corporate interests - even as Jerome Smail points out new research showing that air pollution can undermine the health benefits of exercise. 

- But in the "better things are possible" department, Adam Bonica notes that much of what is wrong with the U.S. could be fixed simply by having it emulate its international peers (as long as its model is the median OECD country rather than Russia and North Korea). And A.R. Moxon rightly suggests that rather than being handed absolute immunity to abuse the public, armed state agents should be held to a higher standard in justifying the use of force.

- Joseph Cox reports on a new tracking tool being used by ICE to monitor phones and their owners without a warrant. 

- Finally, Heather Vognell and Agnel Phillip report on SpaceX's unregulated space debris - and the near-misses it has already caused as parts of exploded rockets have intersected with air traffic. 

Monday, January 12, 2026

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Miguel Xavier discusses the need for social democrats to stop limiting their goals to preserving the status quo, and instead make the case for transformative change of an unfair economic system. And Dale Smith comments on the need to build grassroots democracy as a necessary precondition to sustainable social and policy gains. 

- Patrick Lennox warns that the separatist movement being stoked by the UCP and the Sask Party represents a threat to Canada's national security. Matthew Mendelsohn writes about the changes Canada's public service needs to make to strengthen our defences against the U.S.' aggression, while Paris Marx highlights the need to ban X in particular as both a peddler of CSAM and a threat to democracy. And Paul Stewart points out how reliance on P3 schemes and outsourcing as a substitute for a dedicated civil service only makes the delivery of necessities more expensive and less effective. 

- IndustriALL examines how social dialogue mechanisms have led to improved wages and working conditions in Kyrgyzstan. 

- Finally, Laura Semenzato et al. study the effects of COVID-19 vaccines, and find a substantial reduction in COVID-related deaths without tradeoffs in all-cause mortality.