Surfacing after the usual intense week at work to catch up on news from outside my professional area of concern. And good heavens, the new Texas law on abortion, which the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to annul, is a truly horrible development ( Read more... )

Well done, everyone. Here is the map with the final official results. (This map and the map below are from Jason Kelleher at Irish Political Maps, on Twitter as @IrishPolMaps.)


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Some time this year, Irish voters will have a chance to repeal Article 40.3.3° of the Irish Constitution, inserted by referendum in 1983. It reads: The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend ( Read more... )

Swallows and Amazons: The Syria connection
Missed this at the time. Fascinating.
(tags: books syria )

United Nations Committee Affirms Abortion As A Human Right
Headline exaggerates, but important news.
(tags: humanrights abortion )

Peter Capaldi confirms he'll leave Doctor Who at end of series 10
No big surprise.
(tags: DoctorWho )

The Truth about Jeremy Corbyn
Another former supporter's loss of faith (at great length, with rambling).
(tags: ukpolitics )

The bright ghosts of antiquity
The wonderful Loeb library.
(tags: books latin greek )

20 killed in floods in Skopje
Crumbs. How awful.
(tags: climatechange macedonia )

How Did I Get an Abortion in Texas? I Didn’t.
The grim ( Read more... )

• Listen: two disastrous interviews by Natalie Bennett
  Green leader crashes and burns.
  (tags: ukpolitics )
• The day the Green party surge hit a cliff
  It's not enough to have policies - need to present them properly too!
  (tags: ukpolitics )
• Perhaps I Should Have Been Aborted…
  A different perspective. (Trigger warning: sexual assault.)
  (tags: ( Read more... )

• No, You’re Not Going To Get Ebola
  Facts and figures.
  (tags: health )
• Abortion laws make us a global laughing stock
  How Ireland violates UN standards.
  (tags: abortion ireland )
• Azerbaijan Gets Tough In Bid To Silence Its Loudest Critic
  Further crackdown on dissent in Baku.
  (tags: azerbaijan )
• The Real Reason Why Joss Whedon Named His Space Western ( Read more... )

• Does chocolate make you clever?
  The correlation between chocolate consumption and Nobel prizes.
  (tags: nobel mathematics )
• Let’s imagine our lives without a bailout
  Reporting the imminent economic disaster facing Cyprus.
  (tags: cyprus )
• Abortion in the Ancient World
  Review by David Noy of book by Konstantinos Kapparis.
  (tags: abortion )
• No-one’s ( Read more... )