Politics
Lewis Norton: Why the Welsh Conservatives are containing ‘devo-scepticism’ and is it sustainable?
Lewis Norton is a PhD Researcher at the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University.
Those familiar with recent events in Welsh politics will understand when I say that managing the Welsh Conservatives has become a particularly complex arrangement.
With the elections to the Senedd approaching in mere months, the party has had to address defections to Reform at both its public-facing level as well as its backroom staff, and polling is continuously showing the party to be stuck at around 12 per cent, which is a potentially dangerous level to be polling at given the intricacies of Wales’ new electoral system.
Chiefly among the issues the Welsh party has faced is the ongoing internal tensions around the party’s stance on devolution.
Darren Millar, the leader of the Conservatives’ Senedd Group, has been explicit in saying that abolishing the Senedd is off the table, and in seeking to ensure that the party’s candidates share this position, has come under frequent scrutiny from those within (or formerly within) the party who accuse the party leadership of a “war on the grassroots”
With a matter of weeks left until voting day, the potential cracks of this approach are beginning to reveal themselves. Despite Darren Millar’s insistence that anti-devolution candidates would not be able to stand, in the case of Calum Davies, there is a candidate topping the party list who has been vocal in his opposition to devolution, and candidates further down the lists have also made suggestions of a devo-sceptic position. Naturally, affirming this position also goes against the grain of the majority of the Welsh Conservative grassroots and voter base at large, of whom two-thirds desire the Senedd’s abolition.
Beyond the party’s grassroots, there is also an untapped and underappreciated market for devo-sceptic views amongst the wider Welsh electorate. In YouGov polling, support for abolition of the Senedd and a Senedd with reduced powers stood at 31 per cent and 23 per cent respectively (compared with 24 per cent supporting Welsh independence). While this is below the level of support for the status quo or more devolution, no option enjoys majority support amongst the Welsh electorate, and polls like this one show that clearly there is an undercurrent of devo-scepticism within the Welsh electorate.
The party’s platform on devolution is somewhat ambiguous, which is a common theme throughout the post-devolution era. While officially supportive of its existence, the party has dedicated a lot of its campaigning energy thus far against the expansion of the Senedd’s membership from 60 to 96. This may be somewhat ingrained in a level of devo-scepticism, but it has largely been argued on a cost and practicality basis as opposed to an ideological disagreement and has perhaps become a proxy to avoid addressing the “elephant in the room” of real devo-scepticism which has become such a divisive topic.
It would not be fair, however, to suggest that the party’s direction on this matter is without reason. In fact, it is heavily grounded in logical elite decision-making which those looking at party management would expect to observe.
Firstly, the Conservative Party, perhaps more than any party in the democratic world, sees itself as a natural party of government. This office-seeking logic of the Conservatives is deeply established, and the party has a long and sustained record of adaptation to political and societal change to achieve high office. This logic, seemingly, holds even in Welsh politics despite a long and deep-rooted history of Conservative support in Wales lagging far behind its support in England. As a result, since the birth of the (then) Welsh Assembly in 1999, the Welsh Conservatives have usually attempted to put forward a serious platform for the use of devolved powers in Welsh elections as opposed to dipping their toes into the constitutional questions of the existence of the devolved legislature.
Secondly, in a similar vein to the first reason, the Welsh Conservative aversion to committing to a devo-sceptic platform has become enshrined in a vote-winning logic. While, as mentioned earlier, there is clearly a market for these views amongst a minority of the electorate, targeting this group comes with risks which the party management likely deem unacceptable. The primary risk is that by focusing on the wishes of the grassroots and the devo-sceptic portion of the electorate, the party may alienate the majority of the Welsh electorate who find themselves on the outside of this cluster. Furthermore, those not aligned with the existence of the Senedd are less likely to turn out to vote in its elections. This has been observed throughout devolution, as many Conservative voters in Westminster elections simply don’t turn out at all in Senedd elections. From a vote-seeking perspective, why appeal to a section of the electorate who don’t vote?
If devo-sceptics want to increase their influence on the agenda-setting of the Senedd, then they need to turn out like they haven’t previously. This is somewhat of a double-edged sword, with the lack of a major outwardly devo-sceptic party likely contributing to the lesser turnout, but even where parties campaigning on an abolition platform have been present (namely the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party – who in 2021 were expected to achieve representation) they haven’t been able to mobilise this voter base to achieve anything substantial. Such cases likely reinforce the current Welsh Conservative antipathy toward adopting such a position.
The question here is whether this approach is tenable in the long term. Increasingly, there is a sense that the party needs to make a decision on this constitutional question which has been an ever-present issue for nearly three decades. Ultimately, the sustainability of this approach will depend largely on the result the party achieves in May. In particular, what the make-up of the potentially reduced in size Conservative Senedd group is, and its impact on the dominant faction of the group which currently accommodates devolution. If a smaller Conservative group is proportionately more populated with candidates who support an abolitionist position, we may quickly see a change in tact post-election.
Such a change may be further incentivised depending on how Reform’s Senedd cohort addresses devolution. Thus far, in the face of a similar dilemma as the Conservatives, Reform have also sought to accommodate devolution, and are insistent that they will be a constructive presence to “make devolution work”, going so far as to express excitement at the Senedd expansion which the Conservatives have been in steadfast opposition towards, although this excitement was likely more strategically based on the opportunities it provides for the party rather than an ideological delight towards an expanded Senedd.
Similarly to the Conservatives, whether this position holds for Reform will depend on the composition of its Senedd cohort. If the last time a Farage-led party achieved representation in the Senedd on the basis of working constructively within the institution is to be informative (in the case of UKIP in 2016), then Reform may bring with them an influx of very devo-sceptic Senedd members. But if they don’t, and a potentially small Conservative group coming out of the other side of the huge external shock of a poor election result observes the low-hanging fruit of differentiation through scepticism, then a change in tact may become much harder to resist, and potentially even necessary.
Sinners cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw made Oscars history last night. She’s the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and on receiving the accolade, she invited women in the audience to stand with her.
Of course, plenty of other women have won in non-gendered Oscars categories (ie, not “best actress,” which, of course, women have always won).
Cassandra Kulukundis, for instance, just won the new Best Casting Oscar category for One Battle After Another; Kate Hawley snagged the Costume Design win for Frankenstein, too.
But given that the Oscars have been running for almost a hundred years, a woman winning in this specific category may seem a little, well, late.
In fact, the first woman to even be nominated for best cinematography – Rachel Morrison, whom Arkapaw shouted out in her speech – reached the coveted status in 2018.
The American Society of Cinematographers didn’t accept its first woman member until 1979, 60 years after it was founded.
Women made up 7% of cinematographers working in the top 100 films in 2025, compared to 28% of producers, 20% of writers, and 10% of directors. In the same year, 75% of the top-grossing 250 films employed 10 or more men in “pivotal behind-the-scenes roles”, while only 7% did the same for women.
With that in mind, it might not be so shocking to learn that many other non-gendered categories were later to award women than you might realise.
The first year a woman won an Oscar in every non-gendered category
In order of oldest to most recent, here are the first years in which a woman won a non-gendered Oscars category:
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Best Original Screenplay (1930) – Frances Marion – The Big House
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Best Adapted Screenplay (1933) – Sarah Y Mason – Little Women
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Best Original Song (1936) – Dorothy Fields – The Way You Look Tonight’s ‘Swing Time’
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Best Film Editing (1940) – Anne Bauchens – North West Mounted Police
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Best Costume Design (1948) – Dorothy Jeakins Karinska – Joan of Arc
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Best Production Design (1948) – Carmen Dillon – Hamlet
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Best Documentary Feature (1955) – Nancy Hamilton – Helen Keller in Her Story
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Best Short Film (Animated) (1962) – Faith Hubley – The Hole
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Best Short Film (Live Action) (1969) – Joan Keller Stern – The Magic Machines
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Best Documentary Short Subject (1972) – Martina Huguenot van der Linden – This Tiny World
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Best Picture (1973) – Julia Philips – The Sting
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Best Makeup and Hairstyling (1982) – Sarah Monzani and Michèle Burke – Quest for Fire
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Best Original Score (1983) – Marilyn Bergman – Yentl
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Best Sound Editing (1984) – Kay Rose – The River
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Best Visual Effects (1986) – Suzanne M. Benson – Aliens
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Best International Feature Film (1995) – Marleen Gorris – Antonia’s Line
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Best Director (2008) – Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
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Best Sound (2010) – Lora Hirschberg – Inception
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Best Animated Feature (2012) – Brenda Chapman – Brave
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Best Cinematography (2026) – Autumn Durald Arkapaw – Sinners.
The charity StepChange have raised alarm bells at the ever-increasing debts facing ordinary people from essential services in the UK. Pointing to housing, utilities, and council tax, they highlight how low-income households face rising arrears through unavoidable cost increases.
Costs have increased yearly in response to poor investment and bad management with increases imposed by local government and regulators. With the US‑ and Israeli‑led conflict in Iran driving up global energy and living costs, those costs are likely to rise even further. Now, the debt charity is urging the government to step in with stronger support and intervention.
Subsequently, StepChange called on the government to take action to prevent households from falling further into debt simply to meet essential costs. Pushing for national social tariffs for energy and water, Chief Executive Vikki Brownridge stated they would:
bring costs back down to a level that is affordable for those with low incomes or high needs.
High levels of debt on essential UK bills are the ‘new normal’, warn campaigners
StepChange’s data shows there were significant numbers of households behind with energy bills, even though prices had fallen from the highs of 2022. Over a third of clients were in debt to energy… pic.twitter.com/ygGA7TIFkf
— ECIU (@ECIU_UK) March 16, 2026
Debts: fleecing ordinary people is the ‘new normal’
Despite a much-needed slower rise in rent and mortgage costs, StepChange described how its clients are increasingly falling behind on meeting exorbitant household bills. Furthermore, the debt charity pointed out that rent and mortgage arrears have increased by 15% and 22% respectively. This just goes to strengthen the argument that bills are reaching impossible levels that ordinary people are being priced out of essential services.
Moreover, the brutal and illegal war of aggression against Iran will inevitably push the cost of living even higher, making life more backbreaking for those already struggling to survive. Low-income households and people with greater needs, particularly the disabled community, will suffer the most because the super-rich owners of our utilities are driving up prices they cannot afford to bear.
People will run out of money, but their needs won’t vanish with their savings. The concern grows even greater for disabled and older communities, whose essential needs cannot simply be ignored or scaled back.
StepChange’s data shows there were significant numbers of households behind with energy bills, even though prices had fallen from the highs of 2022. Over a third of clients were in debt to energy companies, which was down from 40% in 2024, but the average debt had grown by £220 to £2,560.
Two in five of the clients seen by the charity over the year were receiving universal credit, and three in five lived in rented accommodation.
Vikki Brownridge, CEO of StepChange, said:
The reality is that rising essential bills and with that rising arrears types across housing, energy, and consumer credit debt, have become the new normal for many households.
The cost of everyday essentials remains prohibitively high for many households, and our client data has reflected this pressure for several years. Rising household arrears show little sign of slowing down.
Debt Awareness Week 2026
People have faced relentless increases to essential services and goods which have left budgets at breaking point for many. With the costs imposed being related to essential services and needs, people are forced to look into high-interest debts through loans and credit cards. This can only exacerbate the misery in daily life for struggling households across the UK, as debts just continue to grow.
Due to the devastating impacts of debt, campaigners have designated this week as ‘Debt Awareness Week‘, purposed to raise awareness of its inevitable harms and push for necessary change.
We wrote recently about how a significant number of ordinary people are left with just £25 a week after meeting their bills. Highlighting how difficult life has become for British people, James Wright wrote:
The neoliberal system leaves 40 percent of Britons with less than £25 at the end of each week, a survey by the Cost of Living Action (COLA) group has found. This is a pittance and unlikely to stretch far under the cost of living crisis, where even employed people are finding themselves out of pocket.
Our money will run out, our needs will not
This issue is urgent and is only becoming more entrenched in British society which will only make it harder to remedy. Calls to move away from privatisation have long been made however leaders refuse to listen. Instead, they bow to super rich shareholders and punish ordinary people.
With councils across the country increasing council tax by approximately 5%, the government must finally reckon with the very real struggle facing families and vulnerable people across the country. After all, budgets disappear and money runs out, but essential needs do not.
Essential services should never operate for profit. All they have done is give the super-rich a captive market to fleece.
Featured image via the Canary
UN experts have slammed the illegal US-Israel war on Iran. And as the UK government fails to reflect public opposition to British involvement, one newspaper is putting others to shame with its firm and honest coverage.
US-Israel war is “entirely illegal” and the media must stop covering for it
Most establishment media outlets have either been putting out war propaganda or sidestepping key context like:
The National, however, has been representing the public interest and amplifying public opposition. And it has put this sentiment front and centre:
Tomorrow’s front page 📰
Poll finds majority oppose use of Scottish airports by US to wage war on Iran pic.twitter.com/W1JEWgnX14
— The National (@ScotNational) March 12, 2026
And they’re right to highlight this. Because although the UK and other Western governments have tried to get us to ignore international experts since 2023, the UN has been clear that the US-Israeli aggression against Iran and Lebanon is “entirely illegal”, insisting that:
U.S. and Israel should stop waging and expanding wars, and considering themselves as above international legality.
I have issued this press release with fellow UN experts about the aggression against Iran and Lebanon and the need to end the impunity of powerful States that consider themselves above the law. https://t.co/9pYqyWaWAU
— UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing (@adequatehousing) March 12, 2026
The experts also called for an end to the “total impunity” the US and Israel have had. And they’ve said that no behaviour within Iran justifies waging a potentially “catastrophic” war of aggression:
Independent human rights experts condemn the ongoing military assaults on Iran & Lebanon as “flagrant violations of international law.”
“The conflict risks engulfing the wider region in catastrophic armed violence, threatens to set yet another precedent of total impunity.” 1/3 pic.twitter.com/tWZchA0qZw
— United Nations Geneva (@UNGeneva) March 13, 2026
“The orders issued to the inhabitants of South Lebanon & southern Beirut to leave their homes are blatantly illegal. Combined with heavy and indiscriminate bombardment, these orders have resulted in the forced displacement of at least 700,000 people.” 3/3https://t.co/ANOMFnMtzL
— United Nations Geneva (@UNGeneva) March 13, 2026
Amnesty International, meanwhile, has asserted that:
All states, including the UK, must refrain from any conduct that could fuel further violations.
States have a clear obligation not to aid or assist internationally wrongful acts and a duty to bring such breaches to an end.
International humanitarian law is clear: military actions must not cause disproportionate harm to civilians or damage civilian objects.
The protection of civilians must be at the centre of all military decisions.
Attacks on energy infrastructure risk devastating civilian… pic.twitter.com/IpOCJ7KA6g
— Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) March 12, 2026
The UK government, however, continues to ignore its duties in service of the US and Israel:
This is what British complicity in an illegal war looks like. https://t.co/avM4sdZuZ2
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) March 12, 2026
It is absolutely possible to take a stand for international law and peace, as Spain has shown. And to push our own government to act in this way, we desperately need more media outlets like the National which are willing to represent the public interest rather than the interests of US-Israeli war criminals.
Featured image via the Canary
Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister has mocked Donald Trump for “miscalculating” his strikes against Russia’s ally, Iran.
The US president launched a coordinated attack with Israel against the Middle Eastern country at the end of February, killing Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
But Tehran has still not folded – despite Trump’s claim that the US has already “won”.
Iran has instead caused widespread chaos by targeting US military bases in the Middle East and effectively closing a major oil shipping lane in retaliation.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said: “If they [the Americans] thought they could subjugate [Iran] in a day or a few hours, they probably realise now just how seriously they miscalculated, how wrong they were.”
This dig comes days after Trump controversially chose to temporarily ease sanctions against Russia to free up its oil exports, upending united western efforts to punish Putin over his invasion of Ukraine.
The US president hoped this would help bring the global oil price down.
But allies, including the UK, have made it clear they will not follow suit.
Lavrov’s remarks are also surprising because Russia has been mocked for once claiming it could seize Ukraine in a matter of days.
Despite invading in February 2022 and enduring more than a million casualties, Putin controls just a fifth of Ukraine’s sovereign land.
Russia was humiliatingly repelled from the capital Kyiv in the first weeks of the conflict and has not even been close to seizing since.
Putin is in a bizarre position when it comes to the Middle East war, even as he tries to position himself as a “global peacemaker”, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
Moscow has consistently defended Tehran over the last few weeks and some reports suggest the new Supreme Leader was even flown to Russia for private medical treatment.
The UK’s defence secretary John Healey suggested Putin’s “hidden hand” is clear in Iran’s war tactics, as Iranian’s tactics replicate Russian strategies.
Yet, after Trump’s easing of sanctions, the decline in oil coming from the Middle East evidently has boosted interest in Russia’s own cheap exports.
Trump’s focus on Iran has reduced American pressure on Moscow to end its own war against Ukraine, too.
Doctors and human rights groups are demanding that NHS trust bosses stop using a ‘nothing special’ patient data management platform provided by ‘murder tech’ firm Palantir.
Disgraced Blairite peer Peter Mandelson pushed for Palantir to receive huge UK government contracts, without a competitive process. The Starmer regime awarded them despite – or because of – the firm’s involvement in Israel’s genocide. Despite, too, the fact that Palantir’s bosses are linked to serial child-rapist Jeffrey Epstein. And boast about using their systems to murder people they don’t like and musing about spraying others with fentanyl-laced piss.
Palantir OUT
The so-called ‘Federated Data Platform’ (FDP) gives Palantir access to patients’ information from all parts of the NHS, supposedly so hospitals can provide more effective treatment more efficiently. But medics and campaigners say there’s “nothing special” about Palantir’s system and no particular benefit to using it – and they decry the government’s “drive” to push hospitals to use it.
Human rights group Amnesty has asked the NHS and all public bodies to dump Palantir completely. Its AI and human rights researcher Matt Mahmoudi said the firm:
has a track record of flagrantly disregarding international law and standards, both in the violations of the human rights of migrants in the United States, which it risks contributing to, and its ongoing supply of artificial intelligence products and services to the Israeli military and intelligence services.
Dr Rhiannon Mihranian Osborne said the company’s involvement is destroying trust in the NHS among patients and staff. She said health workers want the system dropped completely to:
put the interests of patients and workers above American big tech corporations. We know the rollout isn’t going to plan – NHS analysts have told us the software offers nothing special, implementation costs are spiralling and the drive to adopt Palantir tech risks pushing out local, trusted data solutions.
Featured image via the Canary
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In response to the Iran conflict, fossil fuel prices are yo-yoing faster than the UK prime minister’s policy agenda. Roughly 20 per cent of the world’s supply of oil and natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint separating Iran from the Gulf States. Unfortunately, much of that passage sits squarely within range of Iranian missiles and drones.
Oil prices have risen sharply again after a brief period of tranquility last week. Traders either believed the conflict would end soon, or they thought that alternative supplies would soon come on stream. But both options were always uncertain – particularly the former. Trump’s promise to end the war quickly is, at the end of the day, a Trump promise. There are Persian sand dunes with more consistency and permanence.
Given this uncertain state of affairs, wouldn’t a country with an established oil and gas sector be crazy, bordering on reckless, to stand in the way of developing it as fast as possible? Apparently not. According to UK energy secretary Ed Miliband, the latest war in the Middle East is ‘yet another reminder’ that the ‘only route to energy security and sovereignty’ is Net Zero. It is further proof, Miliband said, that the UK must ‘get off our dependence on fossil-fuel markets, whose prices we do not control, and on to clean homegrown power we do’.
Miliband’s statement shows that the weakest arguments deployed in 2022 – when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused global energy prices to skyrocket – are making a return. Fossil fuels are too expensive, no one wants to invest and it’s a depleted basin anyway, we are told. Plus, domestic production can’t affect prices, the future is electric, the public doesn’t like it, a ladder fell over during test drilling and greedy corporations are profiteering. And will no one think of Greta’s sad face as she pines for the fallen ayatollah on her next diesel-yacht jolly to a warzone?
The reality is this. The UK uses oil and gas for around 75 per cent of its energy needs, just over half of which is imported. We will continue to use oil and gas for decades to come, and access to secure supplies remains an imperative, wherever it comes from. The alternative is lights out and heating off in winter, not a utopian counterfactual of nymphs frolicking in meadows around windmills. If resources come from the UK’s own soil or seabeds, we can ensure they are drilled to our own standards, and that we reap the benefits – both through economic activity and tax.
If it’s imported, we cannot. We instead pay the taxes and wages for others and consume a grubbier product, emitting 50 per cent more CO2. This is moronic. ‘Leave it in the ground’ isn’t a policy stance. It is an admission of being so blind in your pursuit of a cleaner, greener world that you’re prepared to deliver a dirtier, greyer one to avoid making adult choices.
But what about our genius Net Zero mission and clean power plan? Surely three to four fossil-fuel crises in 50 or so years are an endorsement of this strategy? Not really. Net Zero means trying to replace gigawatts of reliable power from old nuclear, coal and gas as fast as possible with wind and solar and, much later, any new nuclear power that can get past British regulations. The fly in the ointment – or cod trapped in a fish disco, if you prefer – is that wind and solar power also rely on gas.
By now, it should hardly need stating that weather-dependent power is unreliable and infirm. When the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining, our energy is provided by gas – kept on standby at vast expense, to ensure power grids can keep running on overcast and windless days. Renewables also require a vast amount of land and infrastructure. That infrastructure of wire, concrete, steel, solar panels and turbines relies on fossil fuel-intensive manufacturing and mining. This is also true of hypothetical future solutions like batteries and hydrogen, neither of which are remotely viable at scale at present.
This is why our energy prices continued to rise after oil and gas prices fell in 2023-24. It was what the system costs. Selling sunlight and breezes to the public as free energy – without mentioning the cost of capturing, converting, connecting, balancing, storing, financing and backing them up – was always a catastrophic folly.
The obvious low-carbon substitute is nuclear. If we build it under a sensible regulatory regime, it can compete with both gas and older renewables. If we can do that cost-effectively in a decade hence, why load the grid with gas-dependent renewables capacity today? It is the height of absurdity.
So what can be done about the latest, inevitable energy crisis? It would be good if the government had a plan. One where predictable policy levers are pulled in reaction to the length and extent of the higher prices. This does exist at the extremes – there are emergency plans for grid failure, and the civil disorder that may follow. But solutions to exorbitant energy prices caused by the shocks we are now witnessing are thin on the ground. So here are some suggestions.
Short-term, it is easiest to bring down pump prices for transport. With roughly 65 per cent of people commuting by car and over 90 per cent of those not in electric vehicles, cutting fuel duty, cutting the VAT rate from 20 per cent to five per cent and suspending or ending the biofuels mandate would have an immediate impact. That MPs are still debating planned increases in fuel duty in September shows the metropolitan disconnect of current ministers with how most people live their lives.
The most obvious thing to do would be to scrap Labour’s crippling policy on the North Sea oil and gas industry. Ditching the 78 per cent ‘windfall tax’ is common sense, but this alone will not restore investor confidence. The only sensible thing to do is reverse Labour’s ban on new drilling in the North Sea.
The 2008 Climate Change Act, which set legally binding decarbonisation targets, also needs to go. This will avoid never-ending judicial reviews and appeals to international courts that prioritise a right to a hypothetical global temperature over national economic security.
We are in this mess as a result of deliberate political choices that have placed utopian ideals above reality. The goal of UK energy policy should be to have energy supplies that are secure, affordable and abundant – in that order, delivered through a competitive set of energy markets that make efficient choices.
Decarbonisation will only be rational when it doesn’t damage those ends. But that remains a long way off. Britain’s energy crisis, however, is now. Only by abandoning Net Zero will we be able to get ourselves out of it.
Andy Mayer is chief operating officer and energy analyst at the Institute of Economic Affairs.
If you’ve ever had the sneaky suspicion your toddler’s a master manipulator, prepare to feel vindicated.
A new study suggests around one-quarter of children start to understand deception by as early as 10 months old (!!), and this rises to half of kids by the time they’re 17 months.
Previous research has often focused on deception as something “very sophisticated”, however researchers in the new study were able to document much earlier forms of trickery in young kids.
The study’s lead author, Elena Hoicka, Professor of Education at the University of Bristol, said: “It was fascinating to uncover how children’s understanding and usage of deception evolves from a surprisingly young age and builds in their first years so they become quite adept and cunning ‘little liars’.”
What did the study involve?
The parents of 750 children aged 0-47 months were asked a range of questions about their child’s deception development.
Some parents noted their children’s deceptive ways began as early as eight months old.
Once children learned the art of deception, this activity was found to be pretty frequent: half of children reported as “deceivers” had done something sneaky in the last day.
By analysing the responses, researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Oxford, Sheffield, Warwick, and Waterloo in Canada, identified numerous types of deception that children mastered.
What are the different types of deception?
From the age of two, researchers found deception tends to be action-based, or requiring basic spoken responses.
It might involve pretending not to hear a parent or caregiver say ‘time to tidy up’, hiding toys so others can’t play with them, or denial (like eating chocolate but shaking their head to say they didn’t when a parent asks if they ate it).
They might also engage in “forbidden” activities in secret – for example, looking in a bag they were told not to look in when no one’s watching – or making excuses when asked to do something.
By the age of three, the study found children started to understand and engage in even more types of deception, involving a deeper understanding of language and how other people’s minds work.
This could mean exaggerating (for example, saying they ate all their peas when they ate far less); understating something; or flat-out lying (ie. saying a ghost ate their chocolate).
They might also simply pretend not to know, see, or understand if they don’t want to do something.
At this age, researchers said they also start to withhold information – for instance, telling their parents their sibling hit them, while leaving out the fact they hit their sibling first.
Three-year-olds also start to use distraction techniques, like telling someone to ‘Look over there!’ when they want to do something they’re not supposed to.
Prof Hoicka concluded that “parents can be reassured deception is entirely normal in toddler development”.
“They can also look at our findings to know which types of deception to expect by age, so they can better understand and communicate with their children in order to stay one step ahead of their deceit,” she added.
Zohran Mamdani’s condemnation of Susan Abulhawa is a capitulation to the Epstein class, Abulhawa said in a searing but graceful response to the New York City mayor.
Abulhawa views on Israel and Zionism were condemned by Mamdani in a recent press conferece.
Abulhawa has a new book called “Every Moment is a life.” It is an anthology she compiled featuring the writings of young Palestinians experiencing the UK/US/Israeli genocide of Gaza. Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, illustrated a piece within the collection called “A Trail of Soap.”
Susan Abulhawa’s warning
Susan Abulhawa warned Mamdani in a post on X:
You succumbed to forces that seek to pick away at you, at your talented, beautiful wife, and at your work, they will claw harder with each apology or concession you make. If you are not careful, they will siphon your soul before you even realize it.
As the Zionist press in the USA got wind of Duwaji’s contribution — Mamdani felt compelled to publicly condemn Abulhawa. He said Duwaji never met Abulhawa and was commissied through a third party, Abulhawa confirmed this.
Mayor Mamdani says his wife, Rama Duwaji, was not aware of anti-Israel posts (like calling some Israeli citizens “parasites”) from an author she illustrated an essay for.
Mamdani calls that rhetoric “reprehensible” and says his wife booked the gig thru a 3rd party pic.twitter.com/HQqJvRYC53
— Josie Stratman (@JosieStratman) March 13, 2026
The fact that Mamdani publicly condemned a Palestinian American author whose work is crucial amid the silencing of voices witnessing the Gaza genocide has disappointed many of his supporters.
The poignancy of the story that Duwaji illustrated, a young Gazan called Deema’s first encounter with the indignity of a public toilet after her home was destroyed, was lost entirely in Mamdani’s condemnation. In his rush to distance himself from a Palestinian voice, he buried the very humanity his wife’s art sought to illuminate.
In her response to Mamdani, Abulhawa reserved her deepest sorrow not for herself but for the young writers she mentored in Gaza —children who risked their lives walking through bombed streets just to reach writing workshops she held in Gaza in 2024, in the middle of the violent, bloody genocide.
During two trips to Gaza in 2024, Abulhawa conducted eight writing workshops for young Palestinians. The workshops took place amid Israel’s relentless bombing campaigns. She said in her video reply to Mamdani:
No words can adequately capture the evil I have witnessed or experienced at their hands. I do not have sufficient language to describe what they have done to us, what Gaza smells like, feels or looks like up close now. But it is the kind of knowledge that alters one’s life.
She said it was extraordinarily difficult for the young writers to attend the workshops. They traveled for hours on foot, by bicycle, or on donkey carts just to reach the meeting places. Sometimes the journey itself put their lives at risk.
Palestinian-Americans condemn Mamdani
Other Palestinian Americans also condemned Mamdani’s capitulation.
Anas Saleh’s take down on Mamdani’s zionist position during his mayoral campaign was reshared by him.
After I heckled Mamdani, I got flooded with hate from the left for attacking “my allies.”@NerdeenKiswani reached out and told me that in a few months or a year that Zohran will expose himself to the people and they’ll realize you were right. Well… here we are. Nerdeen was right. https://t.co/ULqGUTe3ts
— Anas Saleh انس صالح (@AnasSaleh_NYC) March 14, 2026
Nerdeen Kiswani said that Palestine movement was expendable to Mamdani. She said:
He knows he’ll anger us. He just believes that when the time comes, we’ll vote for him anyway.
Zohran Mamdani throwing his own wife under the bus for not “vetting” who she made artwork for was never going to appease Zionists. They were always going to attack him anyway.
So why do it?
Because in his political calculus, Zionists are a constituency to appease. The Palestine…
— Nerdeen Kiswani (@NerdeenKiswani) March 14, 2026
Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian writer recalled a conversation with Mamdani in which the mayor once warned him that criticism of politicians ‘gives people permission to go after his wife.’
Once in a meeting w Mr Mayor he told me that when I criticize him I “give people permission to go after his wife.” Very funny remark in retrospect.
— Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd) March 14, 2026
Yet in condemning Abulhawa, Mamdani himself had now handed his wife’s critics that very permission — sacrificing on the altar of political ambition the very principle he had once invoked to protect his family.
Zionist journalists circling Mamdani
The pressure on Mamdani has been relentless.
Since Duwaji’s illustration was discovered, Zionist journalists have targeted both him and his wife.
For instance, New York Post published a column attacking Duwaji. It accused her of holding “abhorrent, disgusting opinions” and celebrating “mass murder” based on her social media activity. The piece questioned whether Jewish New Yorkers could trust a mayor “who sleeps next to a woman” with such views!
The journalist who asked the question about Duwaji’s links to Abulhawa at the press conference mentioned above — is called Jon Levine of the Washington Free Beacon.
He is a Gaza Holocaust denier.
Israel’s response in Gaza was in fact far too lenient https://t.co/VBhh4BgpOb
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) February 12, 2026
Why Mamdani would condemn Abulhawa to a genocide denier shows the limitations of liberal politics.
Featured image via WikimediaCommons
If you want to attract bees to your garden, a special, shallow “bath”, which isn’t deep enough for our flying friends to fall into, is a great place to start.
But for queen bumblebees, apparently, a mini plunge pool would pose no threat.
That’s because new research published in the Royal Society’s Proceedings B has found that bumblebee queens can “avoid drowning” through “underwater respiration,” allowing them to live underwater for days.
How can bees live underwater?
A 2024 paper showed that bumblebee queens can live underwater for anywhere from eight hours to seven days. This newer research sought to figure out how.
Some bee species, including bumblebees, enter a period of deep rest called “diapause” in the winter. In that time, their metabolism and development slow way down.
But sometimes, the world around them doesn’t stay as rested. Flooding, for instance, can affect a hive (many of which stay underground in the colder months).
Scientists figured the response to submersion noted in the 2024 research was a survival tactic from the bumblebee queen. So, for this study, they put some bumblebee queens who were in diapause underwater and measured the gaseous exchange.
They found that carbon dioxide levels rose, while oxygen levels sank, suggesting the bees were respirating.
But the carbon dioxide emissions decreased compared to those emitted when the bees in diapause were out of water.
Researchers linked this to metabolic activity; the less that was happening in bees’ bodies, they reasoned, the lower the CO2 output would be.
Prior to being placed underwater, diapausal queen bees – whose metabolism had already dropped compared to non-diapausal levels – produced 15.42 microlitres of carbon dioxide per hour per gram of body mass.
But after eight days underwater, that shrunk to 2.35 microlitres. That’s almost a six-fold decrease in presumed energy use.
Scientists termed this a “profound metabolic depression”.
Wait – but what about that “respiration”?
That dip in metabolic activity explained some of the survival rates of queen bees living underwater. But, quick question – how are they getting enough oxygen to respirate in the first place?
Well, scientists couldn’t answer that definitively in this study. However, they hypothesised that queen bees can form a kind of “physical gill” with trapped air that allows gas exchange.
“Future studies manipulating water conditions and the likely physical gill, alongside detailed recovery analyses, will further clarify the adaptations enabling queens to withstand extended submersion,” the researchers wrote.
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