The hunt is on for the world's biggest rabbit, stolen from its home in Worcestershire
The ten-year-old Darius, a 4ft 3in-long Continental Giant, was snatched from a rear garden. @AFPu.afp.com/UQut#Darius
Darius may have been stolen to order by a rival rabbit breeder
He can command a £500 appearance fee at functions
He’s on a special diet & - without it - there are fears he may not survive
Darius looks a bit like this rabbit, only 170x bigger #FreeDarius
Wow! The missing rabbit has made it to the @nytimes
"He travelled across the UK for events alongside Ms. Edwards, who often appeared with him dressed as the cartoon character Jessica Rabbit. Darius was insured for $1.6 million 7 traveled with a bodyguard” nytimes.com/2021/04/13/wor…
When the subject moves to ethics, @BorisJohnson becomes more guarded
Asked whether he believes one "can derive the ethics from the science" he avoids answering
Perhaps he’s aware that discussions of genomics can easily slip into the subject of eugenics.
I know!
Most of us switch-off at the mention of “genomics”, but it is crucial to understanding how the world is transforming & how “super forecasters” see the need for society to transform too
This thread👇offers a potted summary of just some of what is going on. #GenomeUK
3/. When I got back to London - the sand still in my hair - I handed in my notice
A month later, in May 2009, I became a full-time journalist, started planning for the #FiSahara Film Festival 2010 and - with a small but dedicated team - launched the Free Western Sahara Network.
Before #COVID19 hit, it felt like the world was starting to wake up to the harm of plastics
But with the arrival of #coronavirus,
single use plastic is now seen as ‘safer’ & millions of masks & gloves are ending up in our oceans @GelarehDarabi@AJEnglish
We cannot plead ignorance
We can no longer afford apathy
In the UK, each of us discards about 100kg of plastic per year, mostly in packaging
There’s a ‘trash vortex' / ‘plastic soup’ the size of Texas in the Pacific where there are 6 kilos of plastic for every kilo of plankton
This comes as it was revealed that the prosecutor in the trial of @amnesty’s honorary Turkey Chair, #TanerKilic, has requested that the court uphold his conviction ahvalnews.com/eu-turkey/eu-l…
2/. If the court upholds #TanerKilic’s conviction, he’ll be taken back to jail to serve the rest of his 6yr jail term
He’s already been behind bars for 1+ years
This despite the fact not a SHREAD of evidence has been produced of any criminal wrong doing.
3/. "We’re responsible not only for what we say but what we fail to say by staying silent"
In 2018 when #TanerKilic was in jail, @snowden joined 2m people to demand his release
It is vital for @Peston to reveal who was his senior Downing St source that told him UK strategy was “allowing #COVID19 to spread through the population”
Contrast No.10’s reaction to the @Peston story with their reaction to the @thetimes story that #Cummings had said the govt strategy was #HerdImmunity “& if that means some pensioners die, too bad”
The recognition by one of France's highest courts that #SolidarityIsNotACrime is good, but across Europe & around the world, people are being arrested & criminalized for providing food, shelter, transport & basic acts of kindness to migrants & refugees. newsweek.com/you-can-now-go…
In 2016, I was in Calais as the bulldozers rolled into the Jungle
Five years on, brave humanitarian volunteers - from the Med to the Alps to the Arizona desert - show that camps can be demolished & tents torn down, but solidarity isn't so easily destroyed
She tells @katierazz on #Newsnight “the denial of its existence is a complete whitewash”
This report into institutional racism - run by Tony Sewell who, 15 years ago, said he doesn't believe in #institutionalracism was designed to demoralise
Don’t be demoralised
These are their tactics
Tactics designed to get you to switch off the news & apply for an allotment.
The last time #Newsnight did such a
powerful opening was in May in the midst of the Barnard Castle scandal
“A great journalist puts into words the things people feel. They seek truth & speak truth & are never seduced by the gilded strumpet of power”
(E. Warner)
Following her monologue on Cummings, the govt complained to the BBC
Instead of backing @maitlis, the BBC issued an apology!
“What is spectacularly gutless is that these ministers have avoided @GMB , @Channel4News, @BBCNewsnight & anywhere they might get rough ride. That’s a dereliction of their duty as govt ministers. It’s completely shameful.” @piersmorgan
1/. This week we bid goodbye to two human rights heroes
Ystdy, we learned of the sudden death of Prof Christof Heyns (62), a giant of intnl human rights law
Last weekend, Nawal El Saadawi (89), Egyptian feminist, writer & campaigner who fought against patriarchy & poverty, died
2/. “He was a deeply moral man. His life was one of consequence & meaning, in which he used his energy to turn human wrongs into human rights,” @UPTuks
His father, theologian Johan Heyns, who once described apartheid as a sin, was assassinated in 1994. amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
@MattHancock has announced that the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jenny Harries, will be the first chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency which will aim to plan, prevent & respond to health emergencies like pandemics
3/. Stopping community testing - as the UK did on 12 March - would only make sense as a strategy if the UK’s strategy was to allow #COVID19 to spread through the population
Questioned by @Jeremy_Hunt, Jenny Harries changed her story to a claim of capacity issues. #JennyHarries
1/. At a time when many countries are starting to try & find ways of combating violence against women, #Turkey has just pulled out of #IstanbulConvention
2/. #Turkey’s withdrawal from the #IstanbulConvention is deeply worrying, coming at time when #COVID19 measures/lockdowns have led to a spike in reports of violence
Many women & girls trapped at home with their abusers or unable to easily access safety #VAWG#istanbulsoezlesmesi
3/ Turkey’s withdrawal from the #IstanbulConvention will have disastrous consequences for millions of women & girls & to organizations providing vital support to survivors of sexual assault & domestic violence
1/. 18 years ago as the bombs rained down on #Iraq as Operation Shock & Awe began, Eric Levy was in Baghdad in a power station
He'd gone to #Iraq with hundreds of human shields to try & stop an illegal war & to protect Iraqi civilians by staying in civilian infrastructure sites.
2/. Eric - now 92 - was one of about 80 human shields who stayed throughout the #IraqWar
"The war was illegal & immoral. We may have failed to stop the invasion, but by putting ourselves in harm’s way, we sent a clear message to the world"