Side View: The danger of being an MP

THE MURDER OF DAVID AMESS

The assassination of Sir David Amess — the second House of Commons MP to be killed at work in five years — has prompted an inevitable focus on polarisation in politics, even if the murder looks motivated by Islamist terrorism (and allegedly perpetrated by a man known to security agencies).

There’s been a big rise in the level of threats against British MPs, and spending on their security. Here’s some perspectives on the risk that British MPs face in regularly meeting constituents. I’d expect most lower house MPs here have the same view that meeting citizens is a core part of their job and you don’t mess with that, even if it means a physical risk. Dealing with troubled, desperate, unwell people — people at the lowest point in their lives — is part of the job of being a local MP, as it is for police and health professionals. For many that’s the most important part.

CONSPIRACIES AND OTHER PERSPECTIVES

Weird thing is, our world abounds in actual conspiracies, often involving governments and their agents — but they’re never the ones that attract attention until, finally, they are dragged out into the sunlight. Take the case of Larry Nassar, who sexually abused hundreds of girls virtually in plain sight.

A video on how conspiracy theorists resemble members of cults. From the “well, that’s just great, isn’t it?” department: surveillance using unseeable shadows on a wall.

CAPTAIN CAPITALISM TO THE RESCUE!

Verizon tried to get its employees to demand that Congress not reverse Trump’s massive corporate tax cut that gifted giant corporations hundreds of billions. And on that tax cut: how it was tweaked to deliver an astonishing windfall for the ultra-rich (including Michael Bloomberg).

Now is not a good time to be a competition regulator in Europe: France’s top trust-buster has been dumped by Macron as part of his agenda to establish “continental champions”. And a really fascinating piece on the political economy of disability.

PLANET OF SOUND

What we think of as sounding “natural” in internal spaces is (you guessed it) entirely artificial — and you can thank the French. “Havana Syndrome” continues to spread among US spies and diplomats around the world, and the US still hasn’t worked out if it’s real or not, or deliberate. Our changing sound environment, and why birds have been singing more softly lately. Elsewhere: why someone dumped a Boeing 720 by the runway of an Indian airport… for a quarter of a century.

GET SCIENCED!

Hey, want more detail on how rubbish carbon capture and storage — AKA the F-35 of climate technologies — really is? We’ve got your back. A new CCS project that sucks CO2 from the atmosphere has just been turned on. In one year, it will remove, erm, three seconds’ worth of emissions from the atmosphere. It costs around $600 a tonne of CO2 to work. Admittedly, there is a CCS technology that is much cheaper — $50 a tonne — and has a well-established track record. It’s called trees.

POLICY AND PEOPLE

Fred Kaplan on how Colin Powell squandered his credibility. The dilemma of vaccination for Indigenous Australians. Is Christopher Hitchens still worth reading? Two recovering Hitch fans debate whether to ignore the last decade-plus of his life. The toxic dramatisation of abortion on US television.

FINALLY

What about pets as a public health strategy — and if so, how do you encourage pet ownership? And the obligatory bonus dog content.