#Ashifa Kassam

[xtruss]

Cost of the Crown: Windsors v Borbones: Comparing the Public Pay of European Filthy Royal Families

Stipends, palace maintenance, staff costs and taxes all differ, but the British royals are given the most taxpayer money

King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort; Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II; Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia; and Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde. Composite: Guardian Design/AFP/Getty Images/ SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock/PA

— By Rupert Neate, Henry Dyer and Ashifa Kassam | Wednesday 5 April 2023

Comparing the cost of Europe’s royal dynasties is akin to comparisons between apples and oranges. Each family is unique, and each government has a different way of paying for them. Some royal budgets cover the cost of maintaining palaces, staff and security; others are limited to annual stipends to individual kings or queens.

Tax is paid by some European royals but not others. Some countries are highly transparent, providing detailed breakdowns of how public money is spent on individual royals. Others are more opaque, with royals supplementing an official government lump sum with other quasi-private sources of income. One thing, at least, is clear: European royal families come with vastly different price tags.

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Members of the British royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the trooping the colour ceremony in June 2018.

Members of the British royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the trooping the colour ceremony in June 2018. Photograph: Shutterstock

Family name/House: The Windsors

Monarch: King Charles III

Approximate Public Funding: £86m-£127m

The most famous of Europe’s grand hereditary families, and probably the richest and most powerful too. Many Britons wrongly assume their monarch fulfils purely ceremonial roles, and has no real power. However, an archaic procedure known as “consent” allows the monarch, or heir, to secretly vet laws before they are approved by the elected members of parliament.

It was once used by Queen Elizabeth II to persuade ministers to change the law to conceal her “embarrassing” private wealth from the public.

There is no breakdown of how much individual members of the royal family receive for their official duties. The monarch does receive a lump sum – the sovereign grant –which has risen dramatically over the last decade. The UK taxpayer gave £86.3m towards the cost of the British royal family last year. Of that, £34.5m was spent on refurbishing Buckingham Palace as part of a 10-year restoration programme. The core cost to the taxpayer, for the royal household’s operating costs, travel and maintenance on other residences, was £51.8m.

Controversially, the new king and his heir, Prince William, also receive income from two hereditary estates – the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall – which pay no corporation tax or capital gains tax. There has been a centuries-old debate over whether that money – currently more than £40m a year – should really go to the public. Buckingham Palace insists the revenue is “private income” buts says part of it goes towards official duties.

From 1993, the monarch agreed to pay “voluntary” income tax, although they are exempt from inheritance tax, meaning the late queen passed her fortune to the king without any deductions for the public good.

Spain 🇪🇸

Clockwise from top left: King Felipe, Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia pose for their 2021 Christmas card. Photograph: Zuma/Alamy

Family name/House: The Borbones (or Bourbons)

Monarch: King Felipe VI

Approximate Public Funding: £7.4m

Spain’s royal family ranks among the most beleaguered on the continent. Marred by accusations of corruption, extramarital affairs and a precipitous fall from grace, the former king Juan Carlos I abdicated in 2014 and eventually left the country.

Investigations into his financial dealings were eventually shelved and the former king’s lawyers noted he had been cleared of “any illicit conduct susceptible to criminal reproach”. However, the scandals led to an intense debate among Spaniards about their royal family, who this year will receive €8,431,150 (£7.4m) from the state budget.

Seeking to present a new era of transparency, Juan Carlos’ son, King Felipe VI, made public his personal assets of €2.6m (£2.28m). He renounced his personal inheritance from his father in 2020 and removed him from the royal family’s payroll.

From the public grant, Felipe receives €269,296 (£236,214.10) in an annual personal allowance, while his wife, Queen Letizia, gets €148,105 (£129,911). His mother, Juan Carlos’s estranged wife, Sofía, receives an annual stipend of €121,186 (£106,299). Spanish royals pay tax on their income.

Sweden 🇸🇪

L-R: King Carl XVI Gustaf, Prince Daniel, Queen Silvia and Crown Princess Victoria attend the Nobel prize ceremony in Stockholm in December 2022. Photograph: Christine Olsson/TT News Agency/AFP/Getty Images

Family name/House: The Bernadottes

Monarch: King Carl XVI Gustaf

Approximate Public Funding: £11.5m

Sweden was the first monarchy to change its rules on succession from agnatic primogeniture (the eldest male son) to absolute cognatic primogeniture (the eldest child). The change was passed by the Swedish parliament in 1980, and led to Crown Princess Victoria becoming heir apparent instead of her brother Prince Carl Philip.

The Swedish royal court received a total grant of 147.9m Swedish krona (£11.5m) in 2021 (the latest figure available). Of this, 73.9m kr (£5.8m) covered the cost of the king’s official duties, travel, staff and stables. Within this, 13.6m kr (£1m) was allocated to the king and other titled royals who carry out official duties to cover costs of a “non-official nature which are connected with, or caused by, the royal position”, according to the court’s annual report.

Individually, Carl Gustaf and his wife, Silvia, get 8m kr (£625,423) between them, while Victoria and her husband collect 4.5m kr (£351,800), and Carl Philip and his wife get 1.1m kr (£85,995). In 2019, the king stripped five of his grandchildren of their royal titles in order to reduce the total cost of “appendages” to serving royals.

Belgium 🇧🇪

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde with their children (L-R) Princess Eléonore, Prince Gabriel, Crown Princess Elisabeth and Prince Emmanuel at 2022 National Day celebrations in front of the Royal Palace in Brussels. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Family name/House: Van België, De Belgique, or Von Belgien (or “of Belgium”)

Monarch: King Philippe

Approximate Public Funding: £12.5m

Like the British royals, the Belgian monarchy ditched its previous surname, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in 1920 in response to fierce anti-German sentiment after the first world war. The new name – van België (Dutch), de Belgique (French) or von Belgien (German) – means “of Belgium” in the country’s three official languages.

The Belgian monarch has had no direct power since 1951, although the king has kept the right “to be consulted by his ministers, to encourage them, and to caution them”.

King Philippe, or Filip, is granted an annual civil list to cover the cost of performing official duties. The amount is established at the start of each reign. Philippe, who acceded to the throne in 2013, received €12.5m (£11m) in 2021, according to the Belgian government’s latest report. The amount is set to increase with the consumer prices index measure of inflation. As well as the £11m paid to Philippe, other members of the royal family receive yearly “emoluments”. Philippe’s father, King Albert II, who abdicated in 2013, receives €980,000 (£862,635); Albert’s eldest child, Princess Astrid, receives €341,000 (£300,161), slightly more than her younger brother, Prince Laurent, who gets €327,000 (£287,838). Their half-sister, Princess Delphine, who had Albert’s paternity recognised by the court in 2020, does not receive any royal funding. The payments are subject to income tax.

Denmark 🇩🇰

Queen Margrethe II (centre) with Crown Prince Frederik, his wife, Mary and their children (L-R) Vincent, Isabella, Josephine and Christian at Fredensborg in April 2022. Photograph: Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images

Family name/House: The Glücksburgs

Monarch: Margrethe II

Approximate apublic Funding: £14m

On average, each Dane cycles 1.4km a day, according to the Denmark tourist board, and those cyclists include the royal family. Frederik, the crown prince and heir apparent, competed in the Tour de Storebælt cycle race near Copenhagen; he and his wife, Mary, ferry their children around town on a cargo bike.

Queen Margrethe II, 82, Europe’s longest-serving monarch, receives about 91.1m kroner a year (£10.7m) in civil list payments. The government says this covers expenses “relating to staff, operation of the royal household, administration and properties as well as the queen’s expenses of a more private nature”.

Separately, Frederik receives 22,434,876 kroner (£2.64m) a year, 10% of which goes to his wife. Frederik’s younger brother, Prince Joachim, the sixth in line to the throne, gets 3,965,400 kroner (£467,045) a year. All the money is received tax-free.

Queen Margrethe has stripped Joachim’s four children – Nikolai, Felix, Henrik and Athena – of their royal titles in a move designed to slim down the size of the family. The palace said the queen wanted to “create a framework for the four grandchildren, to a much greater degree, to be able to shape their own existence without being limited by the special considerations and obligations that a formal affiliation with the royal house as an institution implies”.

Luxembourg 🇱🇺

L-R: Crown Prince Guillaume, Princess Stephanie, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Grand Duke Henri, Princess Alexandra, Prince Louis and Prince Gabriel outside Luxembourg Cathedral in June 2022. Photograph: Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images

Family name/House: Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg

Monarch: Grand Duke Henri

Approximate Public Funding: £16.9m

The Windsors are not the only royals to deliver a Christmas speech. The grand duke’s message is broadcast from the yellow room in the Grand-Ducal Palace every Christmas Eve.

The latest government budget for 2023 shows payments to the Maison du Grand-Duc (House of the Grand Duke) totalled €19,257,155 (£16.9m). Of that, €15.9m (£13.9m) was spent on day-to-day expenses, and €3.3m (£2.9m) on capital projects, such as renovations.

In addition to the civil list payments for staffing costs, the grand duke and his heir receive endowments for personal expenditure: in 2022, Henri received €523,103 (£460,381) and Crown Prince Guilluame received €217,985 (£191,848).

From July, legislation drafted by the prime minister, Xavier Bettel, will peg future changes to the personal allowances to the public sector. Bettel has said the centralisation of royal funding will provide more transparency, after anger at the blurring of public and private budgets. “Now we have a monarchy that moves out of the 19th century and into the 21st century,” he said.

Norway 🇳🇴

Princess Ingrid Alexandra (C) stands between her grandparents King Harald and Queen Sonja for a family photo to mark her Covid-delayed 18th birthday celebrations in Oslo in June 2022. Photograph: Lise Åserud/AP

Family name/House: The Glücksburgs

Monarch: King Harald V

Approximate Public Funding: £24m

The Norwegian monarchy dates back more than 1,000 years. Harald Fairhair is regarded as the first Norwegian king, who united several “petty kingships” into a single realm in about 885. The current king belongs to the House of Glücksburg, which has held the Norwegian throne since 1905.

The royal court’s latest annual accounts say the Norwegian royal family received 312m Norwegian kroner (£24m) in 2022 in the civil list. It is unclear how this is distributed. A previous report from 2015 states that “the king and queen and the crown prince and crown princess all receive an allowance” to cover “the management, operation, maintenance and development of the private properties and households, as well as appropriations for private expenses and official attire”.

The Netherlands 🇳🇱

(L-R): Queen Maxima, Princess Amalia, King Willem-Alexander, Princess Alexia and Princess Ariane pose at the New Church in Amsterdam in November 2022. Photograph: Koen van Weel/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

Family name/House: Van Orange-Nassau

Monarch: King Willem-Alexander

Approximate Public Funding: £44.2m

The Dutch royals are among the monarchies exempt from paying income tax. This year, the prime minister, Mark Rutte, rejected opposition demands to scrap the exemption. His government proposed an annual royal budget of €50.2m (£44.2m) for 2023.

That includes €1,035,000 (£911,162) for King Willem-Alexander, and a further €5.37m (£4.7m) to pay for his staff and other expenses. His wife, Máxima, collects €411,000 (£361,823), and an additional €700,000 (£616,245) for staff and expenses. The king’s mother, Beatrix, who abdicated in 2013, receives €1.73m (£1.52m).

Princess Amalia, the 19-year-old heir to the throne, has been granted €1.72m (£1.51m), of which €307,000 (£270,235) is salary and the rest is for staff and expenses. However, she has waived her right to the allowance, saying it would make her feel “uncomfortable” to accept it “until I incur high costs in my role as Princess of Orange”.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ashifa Kassam at The Guardian:

Voter turnout across France has surged to a near four-decade high as voters cast their ballots in the first round of high stakes, snap parliamentary elections that could lead to the far-right party of Marine Le Pen forming a government in a historic first. While polls suggest support for Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigrant National Rally (RN) has strengthened in recent days, the outcome of the two-round election, called three weeks ago by the president, Emmanuel Macron, following the crushing defeat of his allies in the European parliamentary elections, remains highly uncertain. With three hours remaining until polls closed on Sunday, voter turnout had reached 59.39% – an increase of nearly 20 points compared with the 2022 elections, according to the interior ministry. Turnout is estimated to be the highest since the 1986 legislative vote, the research director for Ipsos France, Mathieu Gallard, told Reuters. The high turnout is likely to mean that many more third-place candidates will make it to the second round of the election, Mujtaba Rahman, Eurasia Group’s managing director for Europe, said on social media. “Why does that matter? It allows Left and the Macron centre to make deals to withdraw (the) worst-placed candidates and allow the others a free run against the Far Right candidate in Round 2,” he wrote. The outcome of these tactical alliances could decide whether the RN “approaches” a majority in the second round, he added.

The first round of the French Parliamentary elections are today, and the far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) are projected to be the lead party.

[maaarine]

‘Urination equality’: Amsterdam women win fight for more public toilets (Ashifa Kassam, The Guardian, April 29 2024)

"The need kicked in as Geerte Piening was on her way home from a bar one night in 2015.

She swiftly weighed her options: it was past closing time in Amsterdam’s lively Leidseplein area, meaning she could not duck into a bar to use their facilities, while the nearest public toilet was 2km away.

She resorted to squatting in an alleyway, coaxing her friends to cover her as she did so.

Police soon turned up, handing her a €140 (£118) fine for public urination. Few could have predicted what would come next.

After a nine-year battle for “urination equality” in which thousands took to the streets of the Netherlands, this month Amsterdam said it would open more public toilets in October.

The day after Piening was fined, she woke up furious about the injustice of it.

“There were a lot of urinals for men nearby but I couldn’t go anywhere to pee,” she said. “I thought, OK, this is an issue.” (…)

The judge also offered his own view on the issue, telling Piening that despite the lack of female facilities she should have made use of a men’s urinal. “It may not be pleasant but it is possible,” he said.

Over coffee later with her loved ones, Piening pondered the judge’s suggestion.

“We were all laughing about it because it was so ridiculous,” she said. “I think that is definitely not possible.”

Across the country, the response was much sharper. Protests began to pop up in cities across the country, calling on women to challenge the judge’s view.

“Women from across the country are invited to demonstrate the (im)possibilities of urinating in a public urinal built for men,” said the organisers of one protest coined “Power to the Peepee”.

Others posted photos online showing themselves twisted in knots and attempting ambitious gymnastic poses in order to comply with the judge’s orders, with some signed on to a petition calling on the country’s minister of education, culture and science to tackle “urination equality”. (…)

Slowly the city started to make changes, placing mobile toilets in major parks and green areas during the summer and informing the public that they could use facilities in sites such as police stations and fire halls.

But it took years to secure the ultimate victory; this month Amsterdam said new wheelchair-accessible public toilets would be available starting in October.

The exact number was not confirmed though the city said its total investment would be €4m.

Among those celebrating the news was Piening. “How do I feel about it? Really good,” she said. The past nine years had been a test of patience, one that had at times been overwhelming, she said.

But it had also been a crash course in how the design of cities – often harking back to a time when women were expected to remain in the home – can actively exclude segments of the population if left unchallenged.

“I think the city is mostly built by and for men,” she said. “So if I look at it from that angle, it isn’t surprising that there are only urinals for men.”"

[christinamac1]

Spain renews call for US to remove soil from nuclear accident site

Contaminated earth in Almería is result of 1966 air crash involving a B-52 loaded with hydrogen bombs Ashifa Kassam in Madrid,, 6 Mar 23 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/06/spain-renews-call-us-remove-soil-nuclear-accident-site Nearly 60 years after a midair collision dumped four US hydrogen bombs in south-eastern Spain, strewing radioactive plutonium across the landscape, Spanish…

[changingpathsresources]

“a little bit of a weird outcome”

From six-year-old Tibetan monk to teenage Ibiza raver: a Spanish boy’s incredible journey. Osel Hita Torres joined a monastery after the Dalai Lama declared him a reincarnated spiritual leader, but at 18 he broke free and moved to Ibiza. A new TV series tells his story. Ashifa Kassam Osel Hita Torres

[rajeshahuja]

Burning planet: why are the world’s heatwaves getting more intense?

Burning planet: why are the world’s heatwaves getting more intense?

  This article titled “Burning planet: why are the world’s heatwaves getting more intense? ” was written by Fiona Harvey, Ashifa Kassam in Madrid, Nina Lakhani in Phoenix, and Amrit Dhillon in New Delhi, for The Observer on Saturday 18th June 2022 16.26 UTC When the temperature readings started to come through from Antarctic weather stations in early March, scientists at first thought there…

[blueiscoool]

209 Roman Coins Uncovered by a Hungry Badger in Spanish Cave

The ‘exceptional find’ was discovered only feet from a badger’s den in the northern region of Asturias

A trove of 209 Roman coins in a cave in northern Spain – hailed by researchers as an “exceptional find” – is believed to have been uncovered by a badger desperately foraging for food.

The coins, dating from between the third and fifth century AD, were spotted in a cave in the municipality of Grado in the northern region of Asturias. They were found mere feet from the den of a badger, months after Storm Filomena dumped heavy snow across swaths of the country.

Researchers believe that the snow forced the badger to step up its foraging efforts, leaving it prodding at a small crack near its den in hopes of uncovering berries or worms.

Instead it appears that the animal hit on a stockpile of worn Roman coins, forged in places as far away as Constantinople and Thessaloniki, archaeologist Alfonso Fanjul Peraza told El País newspaper.

Most of the coins are made of copper and bronze and the largest, weighing more than eight grams and containing 4% silver, is believed to have been forged in London.

“To date, this is the largest treasure trove of Roman coins found in a cave in northern Spain,” the researchers said in a recently published report.

It is not the first time archaeologists have uncovered treasure in the dense woodlands of Grado; about 85 years ago, 14 gold coins dating to the reign of Constantine were found in the area. “The accumulation of significant finds could – with caution – be seen as a response to the intense conflict experienced in the border territory,” said Fanjul.

The Romans conquered the Iberian peninsula in 218BC, ruling until they were ousted by the Visigoths in the early fifth century. Researchers have speculated that the latest trove of coins were likely part of a larger haul that was hastily hidden in hopes of keeping them safe amid political and social instability.

The find marks the first phase of the project, and researchers hope to return to the area for further excavations, Fanjul told reporters earlier this year. “We want to know if it was a one-off hiding place or if there was a group of humans living there.”

By Ashifa Kassam.

[nikmediaventures]

Coronavirus live news: global Covid-19 death toll passes 500,000

Coronavirus live news: global Covid-19 death toll passes 500,000

  This article titled “Coronavirus live news: global Covid-19 death toll passes 500,000” was written by Clea Skopeliti (now), Aaron Walawalkar, Helen Sullivan (earlier), for theguardian.com on Sunday 28th June 2020 21.46 UTC

10.46pm BST

The UK prime minister will attempt to kick-start the economy after Covid-19 with a decade-long schools rebuilding plan, the Press Association reports.

Boris…

[awesomerajeshahuja]

Coronavirus live news: global Covid-19 death toll passes 500,000

Coronavirus live news: global Covid-19 death toll passes 500,000

  This article titled “Coronavirus live news: global Covid-19 death toll passes 500,000” was written by Clea Skopeliti (now), Aaron Walawalkar, Helen Sullivan (earlier), for theguardian.com on Sunday 28th June 2020 21.46 UTC

10.46pm BST

The UK prime minister will attempt to kick-start the economy after Covid-19 with a decade-long schools rebuilding plan, the Press Association reports.

Boris…

[ebenedara]

Canada-US ice hockey rivalry thaws as former captains have child together

Canada-US ice hockey rivalry thaws as former captains have child together

  This article titled “Canada-US ice hockey rivalry thaws as former captains have child together” was written by Ashifa Kassam in Toronto, for theguardian.com on Tuesday 14th November 2017 19.38 UTC They have battled three times for Olympic gold, racing across the ice as part of women’s hockey’s most heated rivalry. On Monday, the former rivals – who have captained national hockey teams for…

[northindiakaleidoscope]

Names of Las Vegas victims emerge as police reveal gun stockpile – as it happened

Names of Las Vegas victims emerge as police reveal gun stockpile – as it happened

  This article titled “Names of Las Vegas victims emerge as police reveal gun stockpile – as it happened” was written by Matthew Weaver (now), Naaman Zhou, Sam Levin and Alan Yuhas (earlier), for theguardian.com on Tuesday 3rd October 2017 14.14 UTC

3.39pm BST

We are wrapping up this blog now. Thanks for reading. Coverage continues in our new blog:

Related: Las Vegas shooter ‘demented’, says…

[adewumiidowupaul]

#MelillaMassacre: Spain Calls for investigation over deaths in Moroccan-Spanish border crossing - Ashifa Kassam

#MelillaMassacre: Spain Calls for investigation over deaths in Moroccan-Spanish border crossing – Ashifa Kassam

Human rights campaigners in Spain and Morocco have called for investigations to be launched in both countries after a mass attempt to scale the border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla left at many people were dead.Spanish officials said about 2,000 Africans made their way to the iron fence at dawn on Friday, with more than 500 managing to slip into a border control area…

[xtruss]

Gibraltar

‘Mountain of Trash’: How Gibraltar Was Almost Buried Under Post-Brexit Rubbish Pile

As the territory grappled with post-EU paperwork, 6,000 tonnes of waste were left with nowhere else to go

— Ashifa Kassam in Madrid | Thursday, 14 April 2022

The Rock of Gibraltar. The last of the excess waste was cleared just before Gibraltar was hit by a terrific storm. Photograph: Artur Bogacki/Alamy

Set against the lapping waters of the western Mediterranean, the mounds of half-chewed apples, takeout containers and dirty nappies began accumulating in January. Fed by a continuous convoy of trucks hauling rubbish from across Gibraltar, the pile of waste soon swelled to some 6,000 tonnes.

“It was a mountain of trash,” said Antonio Muñoz of the ecologist group Verdemar-Ecologistas en Acción. “All sorts of rubbish, all mixed together.”

The organisation was among the first to sound the alarm over an unexpected consequence of Brexit: the thousands of tonnes of rubbish left with nowhere to go as the territory grappled with post-Brexit paperwork.

The tiny territory had long sent its rubbish to a nearby sorting facility in the Spanish province of Cádiz. When the Brexit transition period ended, so did the arrangement.

As officials in Gibraltar and London wrestled with the cumbersome processes and procedures required to ship the waste as a non-EU member, the Rock – densely populated and with an area of just 2.6 square miles – scrambled to find space for its ever accumulating waste.

New equipment supplied by the UK was used to shred and compact the rubbish, freeing up space on the eastern side of Gibraltar, where the rubbish was being kept.

Contingency plans laid out other options for the 30,000 tonnes of waste produced annually in the territory; from storing it in the territory’s vast network of tunnels to potentially shipping it to the UK.

“It’s not something we were expecting, but something we were prepared for,” said Stephen Warr, a senior environmental officer with the government.

After more than two months of accumulating waste in Gibraltar, Madrid signed off on the paperwork in late February. It took weeks to clear out the backlog of rubbish, with the last bits of refuse cleared just as Gibraltar was hit with a fierce storm that sparked swells of more than 4 metres.

Ecologists said it was a close call that the mountain of waste was moved before the storm hit, as it would have had a ‘significant impact’ and entered the food chain in the Strait of Gibraltar. Photograph: Verdemar-Ecologistas en Acciòn

Ecologists described it as a close call. “If we had had that kind of powerful storm when the rubbish was there, we would be talking about plastic scattered across the Strait of Gibraltar,” said Muñoz.

“The impact would have been significant. We’re talking about a key crossing for birds, cetaceans and tuna – all of it would have entered the food chain.”

The Gibraltar government said precautions had been taken at the storage area to prevent the rubbish from ending up in the sea, such as a wire mesh that sits overtop and a heavy curtain capable of warding off strong winds. The use of tunnels – which this time ended up storing an estimated 10 tonnes of waste – also allows for inert rubbish to be stored without having to worry about winds.

The pile up of rubbish came as talks continue about Gibraltar’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU. The British overseas territory – where 96% of voters in the 2016 Brexit referendum backed remaining in the EU – was left out of the trade deal struck between the UK and EU on Christmas Eve 2020.

Instead, its fate has been the topic of months of parallel negotiations that have focused on preserving free movement across the shared border with Spain while steering clear of the centuries-old sovereignty dispute between London and Madrid.

Amid initial hopes that the talks would wrap up in mid-2021, Spain’s foreign minister recently called for the negotiations to be sped up. “Talks on Gibraltar must intensify so a mutually beneficial agreement can be reached shortly,” José Manuel Albares said on Twitter after a meeting with the British foreign secretary on the sidelines of the recent Nato summit. Liz Truss said her government was “determined to make progress” on the negotiations.

The drawn-out timeline is being watched carefully in Gibraltar. As is customary with permits involving waste, Madrid’s authorisation to ship the waste is set to expire within a year. “The authorisation is short term and will require renewal before the next 12 months,” the Gibraltar government said in a statement.

In the meantime, the contingency equipment to shred and compact waste was being kept in place in the territory’s waste storage area. “It’s there in case we have to use it again,” said Warr. “Hopefully we don’t.”

— The Guardian USA

[maaarine]

Bibliography: articles posted on this blog in 2024

Posted in January

Men Just Don’t Trust Women – And It’s A Huge Problem (Damon Young, Huffington Post, Mar 16 2015)

Amsterdam sex workers protest against plan to move red light district (The Guardian, Oct 19 2023)

They were Israel’s ‘eyes on the border’ - but their Hamas warnings went unheard (Alice Cuddy, BBC News, Jan 15 2024)

The Heteronormativity Theory of Low Sexual Desire in Women Partnered with Men (Sari M. van Anders, Debby Herbenick, Lori A. Brotto, Emily A. Harris, and Sara B. Chadwick, Aug 23 2021)

A new global gender divide is emerging (John Burn-Murdoch, Financial Times, Jan 26 2024)

The secret of OnlyFans: It’s much more than porn (Marta Biino and Madeline Berg, Business Insider, Jan 18 2024)

—

Posted in February

Half of Spanish men feel discriminated against amid feminism backlash (James Badcock, The Telegraph, Jan 16 2024)

Parisians vote in favour of tripling parking costs for SUVs (Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian, Feb 04 2024)

Ireland kickstarts vote on constitution’s wording about women and family (Rory Carroll, The Guardian, Jan 25 2024)

Divorce rates plummet to lowest level in 50 years ‘due to cost-of-living crisis’ (Kieran Kelly, LBC, Feb 22 2024)

—

Posted in March

‘There are some really extreme views’: young people face onslaught of misogyny online (Clea Skopeliti, The Guardian, March 01 2024)

Johnson: Why men interrupt (The Economist, Jul 10 2014)

France makes abortion a constitutional right in historic Versailles vote (Kim Willsher, The Guardian, March 04 2024)

‘My self-worth plummeted every month’: the hidden disorder that can ruin women’s lives (Chloe Aslett, The Guardian, Oct 16 2023)

The tyranny of the algorithm: why every coffee shop looks the same (Kyle Chayka, The Guardian, Jan 16 2024)

DNA Tests Are Uncovering the True Prevalence of Incest (Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, March 18 2024)

Finland is world’s happiest country for 7th year while US drops out of top 20 (France 24, March 20 2024)

Swedish pharmacy bans sale of anti-ageing skincare to children (Miranda Bryant, The Guardian, March 20 2024)

Women are being diagnosed with ADHD at unprecedented rates. Here’s why. (Kaelyn Lynch, National Geographic, Jan 16 2024)

5 Takeaways From an Investigation Into Hysterectomies in India’s Sugar Industry (Megha Rajagopalan, The New York Times, March 24 2024)

English Just ‘Badly Pronounced French’, Paris Academic Says (Tom Barfield, Barron’s, March 09 2024)

—

Posted in April

Why are women more prone to long Covid? (David Cox, The Guardian, June 13 2021)

French Revolution: Cyclists Now Outnumber Motorists In Paris (Carlton Reid, Forbes, April 06 2024)

Long Covid may be the body trying to fight off other viruses (Sarah Knapton, The Telegraph, April 08 2024)

The Troubling Trend in Teenage Sex (Peggy Orenstein, The New York Times, April 12 2024)

Sydney knifeman who targeted women ‘was desperate for a girlfriend’ (Andrea Hamblin, The Telegraph, April 15 2024)

Revealed: Israel has sped up settlement-building in East Jerusalem since Gaza war began (Jason Burke, The Guardian, April 17 2024)

‘I was only a child’: Greenlandic women tell of trauma of forced contraception (Miranda Bryant, The Guardian, March 29 2024)

Hormones and their Interaction with the Pain Experience (Katy Vincent and Irene Tracey, 2008)

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Posted in May

Study suggests injury risk varies in menstrual cycle (Katie Gornall, BBC News, May 01 2024)

‘Urination equality’: Amsterdam women win fight for more public toilets (Ashifa Kassam, The Guardian, April 29 2024)

You can want things you don’t like and like things you don’t want (Shayla Love, Psyche, May 07 2024)

‘A new abyss’: Gaza and the hundred years’ war on Palestine (Rashid Khalidi, The Guardian, April 11 2024)

The important link between eating disorders and past trauma (Giulia Suro, Psyche, May 14 2024)

Hostile Intelligence: Reflections from a Visit to the West Bank (David Graeber, 2015)

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Posted in June

AfD: How Germany’s far right won over young voters (Hans Pfeifer, Deutsche Welle, June 10 2024)

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Posted in July

Coloniser le sud du Liban ? Un fantasme d'Israéliens messianiques à prendre au sérieux (Ha'Aretz via Courrier International, 3 juillet 2024)

Tampons found to contain concerning levels of arsenic and lead in world first study (Vishwam Sankaran, The Independent, July 10 2024)

South Korea politician blames women for rising male suicides (Jean Mackenzie, BBC, July 9 2024)

“Violence against women a ‘national emergency’ in England and Wales, police say (Vikram Dodd, The Guardian, July 23 2024)

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Posted in August

Menopause was a French invention at a time of revolution (Alison M Downham Moore, Psyche, July 30 2024)

Misogyny to be treated as extremism by UK government (Helen Catt and Charlotte Rose, BBC, Aug 18 2024)

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Posted in September

What Is Synaptic Pruning? (Jacquelyn Cafasso, Healthline, Sep 18 2018)

‘Frightening’ Taliban law bans women from speaking in public (Annie Kelly and Zahra Joya, The Guardian, Aug 26 2024)

Elon Musk suggests support for replacing democracy with government of ‘high-status males’ (Ariana Baio, The Independent, Sep 03 2024)

‘Not our tradition’: calls in Sweden to ban fathers walking brides down the aisle (Miranda Bryant, The Guardian, Aug 31 2024)

Olympic runner Cheptegei defied her violent ex. She lost her life anyway (Ammu Kannampilly, Reuters, Sep 14 2024)

[knaranjo-environmental-studies]

Hazards, Waste, and Human Health

Risks, which are defined as, “the probability of suffering harm from a hazard that can cause injury, disease, death, economic loss, or damage,” (Miller and Spoolman 409) are an unavoidable part of life in this day and age. Whether it be from biological, chemical, natural, or cultural hazards or from lifestyle choices, humans are tasked daily with assessing just how harmful a hazard may be and deciding whether or not it’s worth it. Furthermore, as industrialization continues to thrive, chemical hazards, specifically, become more and more of a threat to the well-being of humans and our environment. A toxic chemical is defined as, “an element or compound that can cause temporary or permanent harm or death to humans,” (Miller and Spoolman 418) and the three major types of toxic chemicals are carcinogens, which can cause cancer, mutagens, which can cause mutations in DNA, and teratogens, which can harm fetuses/embryos and cause birth defects (Miller and Spoolman 418). Given that these types of chemicals can be found in commonly used products such as alcohol, tobacco, and processed foods, and the fact that people generally tend to ignore or underestimate the potential harm these products can cause, it’s no surprise that these chemicals affect a large portion of the population. Furthermore, since certain chemicals can also negatively affect human immune and endocrine systems, there has been a big push by scientists and health officials to implement better methods of pollution prevention in order to lower the amount of contact that organisms have with these harmful chemicals, as well as to prevent them from harming the environment. This, however, would prove to be difficult as many large corporations, who are some of the main producers of these chemicals, would most likely be against the idea as it would be extremely expensive and difficult to implement. On top of this, another issue with phasing out the use of these chemicals is that we know very little about most of them, and therefore don't know just how toxic or nontoxic a chemical may be. For example, “only 10% of the more than 85,000 registered synthetic chemicals in commercial use have been thoroughly screened for toxicity,” (Miller and Spoolman 426). I found this shockingly low percentage to be extremely concerning because it reflects just how little regard the government has for the wellbeing of its people, since they’re allowing us to come into contact with potentially harmful chemicals. It’s also especially worrying when you consider the fact that some chemicals that are allowed in the United States are banned in other places such as Europe. In order to increase this percentage, more toxicity tests need to be conducted on various chemicals. However, given that the most common form of toxicity testing is animal testing, this raises various ethical questions. Are humans justified in using, and potentially harming, live animals for these experiments? Why is animal testing so popular if it’s takes a long time to complete and is very costly? In my opinion, I think that no animal testing, no matter how ‘harmless’ it may be, should be conducted and that those conducting these tests should shift towards more humane methods of testing toxicity such as case studies and computer simulations. Although these methods may have some drawbacks (just like animal testing), I think that some sacrifices do need to be made in order to gain information ethically.

Figure 1. A rabbit being tested on. Grover, Natalie and Ashifa Kassam.  “Undercover Footage Shows ‘Gratuitous Cruelty’ at Spanish Animal Testing Facility.”

One major way that people are able to come into contact with potentially dangerous chemicals is due to massive amounts of hazardous/toxic waste that can be found all throughout the United States and the world. In addition to toxic waste, there’s also industrial solid waste and municipal solid waste, which may not have as big of an impact on human health as hazardous waste, but is certainly detrimental for the well-being of our environment. Due to the high volume of waste that inherently comes with industrialization and the throwaway economies of many of these countries, “more developed countries produce 80-90% of the world’s hazardous waste,” (Miller and Spoolman 540). In order to combat the effects of all this waste, both individuals and corporations need to focus their efforts on implementing integrated waste management, which involves both waste management and waste reduction, into their everyday lives and modes of production respectively. For individuals, this can be accomplished by following the four R’s of waste reduction, which are refuse, reduce, reuse, and recycle. While the last three are things we’ve been taught since we were young, I think refuse is an important addition. The biggest example of when you can apply the principle of refusing into your everyday life is when you’re at the store. Instead of paying an extra five cents for a plastic bag, the most environmentally friendly thing to do is bring your own reusable bag. This simple task has a plethora of benefits, such as reducing the demand for, and therefore production of, plastic bags, reducing pollution caused by these bags, and helping protect wildlife that could have potentially been killed by plastic bags that end up in their habitats. In terms of corporations, the textbook outlines that some ways they can reduce their waste and pollution are, “[changing] industrial processes to eliminate or reduce the use of harmful chemicals…[redesigning] manufacturing processes and products to use less material and energy… [and eliminating] or [reducing] unnecessary packaging,” amongst other things, (Miller and Spoolman 543). In my opinion, I think that there should be a bigger emphasis on getting corporations to reduce their waste production than on individuals because not only do corporations produce waste on a much larger scale, but much of the waste that individuals produce comes as a result of products bought from companies that use unnecessary or excess packaging. Furthermore, this throwaway lifestyle that so many people in more developed countries have become accustomed to is a result of big corporations promoting and encouraging said lifestyle. One way in which corporations could reduce their waste production is by utilizing green packaging, which could be done by using recycled or compostable materials, or by using plant-based materials. While this could potentially be expensive to implement, I think that in the long run it would prove to be beneficial as it would attract customers that are interested in sustainability, as well just help the environment overall. While this could potentially be a solution in terms of industrial solid waste, industrial hazardous waste is still a big issue. Given that hazardous waste involves special handling in order to detoxify and store it, and that many countries don’t follow the procedures to do so safely, the two best solutions would be for companies to find alternatives for these toxic materials and for the government to implement stricter regulations on how hazardous materials are handled and disposed of. Of these two solutions, I think finding alternatives would be the best as it not only prevents pollution from happening in the first place, but it could also be beneficial for companies as they would no longer have to spend extreme amounts of money and effort on the detoxification and storing of waste. While I stand by the idea that corporations should take the most amount of action in integrated waste management, I think that it’s also important for individuals to make an effort to reduce their waste both for the well-being of the environment and for all the organisms that live in it. 

Figure 2. Sustainable packaging made from mushrooms. Lim, Guan Yu. “Shroom Protection: Mushroom Material Targets Cosmetics Sector With Sustainable Alternative to Styrofoam and Cardboard Packaging.”

Word count: 1237

Works cited:

Grover, Natalie and Ashifa Kassam.  “Undercover Footage Shows ‘Gratuitous Cruelty’ at Spanish Animal Testing Facility.” The Guardian, 8 Apr. 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/08/undercover-footage-shows-gratuitous-cruelty-at-spanish-animal-testing-facility-madrid-vivotecnia.

Lim, Guan Yu. “Shroom Protection: Mushroom Material Targets Cosmetics Sector With Sustainable Alternative to Styrofoam and Cardboard Packaging.” CosmeticsDesign-Asia.com, 28 Sept. 2021, https://www.cosmeticsdesign-asia.com/Article/2021/09/28/Shroom-protection-Mushroom-Material-targets-cosmetics-sector-with-sustainable-alternative-to-styrofoam-and-cardboard-packaging.

Miller, Tyler G. and Scott E. Spoolman. Living in the Environment. Cengage Learning, 2021.

[rajeshahuja]

Hungry badger may have uncovered Roman coins in Spanish cave

Hungry badger may have uncovered Roman coins in Spanish cave

  This article titled “Hungry badger may have uncovered Roman coins in Spanish cave” was written by Ashifa Kassam in Madrid, for The Guardian on Sunday 9th January 2022 19.10 UTC A trove of 209 Roman coins in a cave in northern Spain – hailed by researchers as an “exceptional find” – is believed to have been uncovered by a badger desperately foraging for food. The coins, dating from between the…