Tuesday 5th December 2023

In the Dark: A Lyrical Illustrated Invitation to Find the Light Behind the Fear

The mind is a camera obscura constantly trying to render an image of reality on the back wall of consciousness through the pinhole of awareness, its aperture narrowed by our selective attention, ho…Continued here

Make Better Allies of Your Workforce

Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.

Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.

Amid economic uncertainty, supply chain restructuring, and a new wave of automation, businesses that once engaged in extensive hiring now face significant layoffs. Many companies are rolling back flexible work arrangements prompted by the pandemic.1 Meanwhile, employees increasingly want to see their own values and priorities represented in how their companies operate.2 And since the pandemic, many are redrawing the boundaries between work and their personal lives to protect their own well-being.

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Why Americans' 'YOLO' spending spree baffles economists

Throughout a period of sky-high interest rates, depleted savings and grinding inflation, Americans have spent with abandon.

On Black Friday, sales at brick-and-mortar stores were up 1.1% from last year; online alone, US shoppers spent a record $9.8bn (£7.72bn) online alone. Consumers spent another $12.4bn (£9.77bn) on Cyber Monday – an eye-popping 9.6% increase over last year. This holiday splurge follows a pattern of US consumer spending, which has buoyed the American economy in the past year, making up nearly 70% of the real GDP's 4.9% Q3 growth. 



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10 of the best TV shows to watch this December

Season three of today's best spy series brings back the out-of-favour MI5 agents exiled to Slough House, earning them the derisive nickname Slow Horses. Gary Oldman is endlessly amusing as Jackson Lamb, the team's brilliant, acerbic leader. Jack Lowden's River Cartwright is charming, charismatic and smart, so why does he find himself in one scrape after another? Kristin Scott Thomas is a treat to watch as the shrewd head of MI5, Diana Taverner, tangling with Sophie Okonedo as Ingrid Tierney, her rival for power. This season's story, based on Real Tigers in Mick Herron's Slough House series of novels, begins with an incident in Istanbul that leads back to London and a kidnapping that sends the team into overdrive. Amidst shootouts, betrayals and hard truths revealed, the Slow Horses once again go rogue for all the right reasons. If you have to glance away whenever Jackson Lamb eats (like bathing and hair-washing, table manners aren't his thing), it's worth it.

Jasmine Jobson (Bafta-nominated for her role as Jaq in Top Boy) stars in this British psychological thriller, whose heroine is a ghost. Johnson plays Lisa, haunting the railway platform at Peterborough station, who witnesses another tragedy and begins to remember and explore the problems in her life that led to her demise. The series is based on the 2019 novel by Louise Doughty, who has said that if ghosts exist "they wouldn't be just floating around in white nighties in stately homes", so created a contemporary story that encompasses sexual abuse and domestic violence. The show's executive producer Chris Carey has described the show as "part-revenge story, part-love story, part-murder mystery". It was written by Paula Milne, whose many suspenseful series include The Politician's Wife.



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Government's preventative detention for ex-detainees who pose serious risks set to pass this week

The government on Wednesday will introduce its legislation to enable preventative detention of former immigration detainees judged to pose a high risk of committing serious violent or sexual crimes.

The legislation will be brought into the Senate as an amendment to one of the earlier bills relating these people.

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Silencing Sarah Jama diminishes Canadian democracy

Sarah Jama, the MPP for Hamilton Centre, is suing the Ontario government and Legislative Assembly after being censured in the legislature by members of the Progressive Conservative government.

On Oct. 23, the Ontario legislature passed a motion introduced by the government house leader, Paul Calandra, to censure Jama for remarks she made on social media regarding the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Jama called for a ceasefire in Gaza and labelled Israel’s actions as “apartheid.” In its motion, the government said her statements are “antisemitic and discriminatory.”

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Payment controversy over 'The Elephant Whisperers' provokes questions about documentary storytelling

Months after the Indian film The Elephant Whisperers won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short at the Academy Awards this past March, the mahout (elephant rider or caretaker) couple Bomman and Bellie at the centre of the film filed a legal notice.

The notice from the Indigenous couple, who belong to the Kattunayakan community in India’s Tamil Nadu province, demanded 20 million rupees (about $330,000) from the filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves and the film’s production house, Sikhya Entertainment, run by Guneet Monga.

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Equitable sentencing can mitigate anti-Black racism in Canada's justice system

Black people continue to be overrepresented at all levels of the Canadian justice system. According to the Correctional Service of Canada, nine per cent of offenders in custody were Black in 2020-2021, despite only representing about four per cent of Canada’s population.

As community activists, we delve into the pressing issue of anti-Black racism in the Canadian justice system and how the implementation of Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCAs) can reduce the over-representation of Black people in the justice system. This is significant as it goes beyond a one-size-fits-all punitive approach that has shown to be ineffective.

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Why Canada's Smart Cities Challenge is missing the mark

The Canadian federal government launched the Smart Cities Challenge in 2017 to award up to $50 million to municipal governments that are best able to leverage technology to improve life in their cities.

The challenge is part of the government’s Impact Canada Initiative, which aims to address complex economic, environmental and social problems across the country.

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Canada's Fall Economic Statement signals the 'right to repair' your tech devices

On Nov. 23, the Government of Canada released the 2023 Fall Economic Statement. In a bold move toward empowering consumers, reducing costs and promoting sustainability, the Canadian government has reiterated its commitment to the ‘right to repair.’

The right to repair is a public interest movement seeking greater parts, tools, information and software necessary to repair and maintain the devices and technologies that surround us. Advocates for the right to repair point to the need to reduce planned obsolescence, increase consumer choice and market competition and offer greater social understanding and technological literacy.

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