John Healey is right about the risk of wars. But it has become politically treacherous for Nato leaders to borrow for defence
Since the historic Nato summit in The Hague one year ago this month, European leaders have pledged massive increases in defence spending in the face of increasingly acute threats of Russian aggression. Yet the reality is that key west European governments – especially the UK, France and Italy – are not putting their money where their mouth is for fear of undermining lenders’ confidence in their national debt.
Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Giorgia Meloni are behaving as if they were more scared of the bond markets than they are of the Russians. The dramatic resignation of the UK defence secretary John Healey in protest over Starmer’s reluctance to ramp up investment highlights how politically treacherous it has become to find these much-needed resources.
Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre
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Suit filed in US alleges chatbot told Alice Carrier, 24, ‘maybe this is just the end’ as she struggled with suicidal thoughts
A Canadian mother sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, in US court on Thursday, alleging that ChatGPT encouraged her daughter to commit suicide. The lawsuit is the latest in a slew accusing the company of failing to address dangerous conversations between users and the company’s chatbot.
Kristie Carrier said in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco state court that her daughter, Alice, told ChatGPT about her suicidal ideations more than a dozen times leading up to her death but that OpenAI’s safety systems never flagged the conversations for human review or terminated them.
Continue reading...Hundreds of Labour activists and MPs have ‘made the pilgrimage’ to the seat, where they are pounding the streets
For a few short weeks, the centre of political gravity in Britain has shifted from the Palace of Westminster to the bar of a former Labour club in Wigan.
In London, even as Keir Starmer insists he will fight to stay in No 10, the walls seem to be crumbling around him, especially with Thursday’s resignation of the defence secretary, John Healey.
Continue reading...He served through the eras of Blair, Brown, Miliband and Corbyn in a party that knows and respects him. It will matter that even his patience has run out
John Healey is not a rash man. Slow to anger, calm in a crisis, loyal and yet beneath it all, formidably determined. He stuck at it through the Jeremy Corbyn years, much as he privately despaired of where the party was heading, keeping his thoughts to himself because all he wanted was for Labour to win again. When it did, under Keir Starmer, he became the understated anchor to a frequently gale-tossed ship of government; the solid citizen everybody liked and nobody distrusted, a natural choice for caretaker leader had Starmer ever fallen under a bus.
Or, perhaps, been pushed under a tank.
Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
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Continue reading...New Farm Bill places caps on non-US foods; nutritionists say it restricts availability of healthy meals for kids
School nutrition workers and advocates have “lots of concerns about bananas”, said Erin Ogden, policy associate for federal child nutrition programs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
Bananas are nutrient-dense foods that many children like. That makes them popular offerings in school cafeterias, since any healthy food that a kid will eat prevents waste and ensures that child isn’t eating either nothing or something less wholesome instead.
Continue reading...
Nooit eerder was waargenomen dat celwanden zo snel bewegen als bij de venusvliegenvanger, een vleesetende plant. Daar zou de mens nog wat van kunnen leren, denken de onderzoekers.
A close-up look at some of Spain’s oldest & most compelling cave paintings. “We lost the connection they had to this world. They led the way quite nicely and successfully, and we got…distracted.”

Bizar fragment uit een bizar rechtbankverslag van Rijnmond-ster Paul Verspeek over de zaak tegen Amin el A., die als een totale gek door Rotterdam en omstreken reed in een auto die hij had geleend voor een proefrit, botste met een 86-jarige vrouw die uiteindelijk overleed, er daarna volgens getuigen 'als een haas' vandoor ging om later zijn auto schoon te poetsen en doodleuk de sportschool in te duiken, vervolgens dagenlang de auto niet inleverde om nadat die door de politie was afgepakt, samen met zijn rijbewijs, doodleuk nog een keer een proefrit in een dure auto te gaan maken.
"De familie neemt het de verdachte zeer kwalijk dat hij is doorgereden: “Welke laffe, waardeloze hond doet dit? Jij dus. Je hebt haar achtergelaten als oud vuil om jouw vege lijf te redden.”
De opmerkingen schieten de advocaat van El A. in het verkeerde keelgat. “Hier is mogelijk sprake van een strafbare belediging.” Hij vraagt de rechter om even op de gang te mogen zitten. “Om te kalmeren.”"
WTF hee. Strafbare belediging. Iemand die een laffe, waardeloze hond is een laffe, waardeloze hond noemen. Strafbare belediging. Ja een belediging voor honden zeker. Hoe krijg je het uit je muil. Wat ben je dan een laffe, waardeloze hond.