tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/university-of-gloucestershire-794/articlesThe University of Gloucestershire2022-09-08T19:23:02Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1888512022-09-08T19:23:02Z2022-09-08T19:23:02ZInside Bamberg’s Market Gardeners’ District, where medieval traditions meet a changing world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483194/original/file-20220907-26-nbcwmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C35%2C4724%2C3500&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Market Gardeners' District in Bamberg is made up of several hectares of land encircled by densely built small houses of a distinct style.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unesco</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the middle of the Bavarian <a href="https://welterbe.bamberg.de/en/">World Heritage City of Bamberg</a> there is a hidden attraction waiting to be discovered: the <a href="https://www.gaertnerstadt-bamberg.de/">Market Gardeners’ District</a> (Untere Gärtnerei). Several hectares of gardeners’ land are encircled by densely built and distinctive small houses. The district is located within walking distance of the <a href="https://bamberger-dom.de/">city’s cathedral</a> and the <a href="https://www.museen-in-bayern.de/no_cache/museums-in-bavaria/museums/museen/altes-rathaus-1.html">Old Town Hall</a>.</p>
<p>Gardeners have cultivated the area since the Middle Ages. At the time, horticulture was the city’s most important economic sector, supported by the Bamberg monasteries. The production and trade of seeds and vegetables flourished thanks to the region’s mild climate, the proximity to the river Regnitz as a transport route, and the city’s commercial diversity and vibrancy. The light, sandy soils in the alluvial plain of the Regnitz offered the best growing conditions, especially for the cultivation of root vegetables. The soil is enriched with humus in the uppermost layer, and starting from 1 metre down there is pure sand.</p>
<p>In the 16th and 17th centuries, the <a href="https://bambergersuessholz.com/suessholz/">liquorice plant</a> was the city’s most important crop and main source of income for gardeners. Long sought after as a medicinal plant and as a sweetener, it’s featured on the city’s oldest map, created by Petrus Zweidler in 1602.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Map of Bamberg" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483192/original/file-20220907-16-29nv9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483192/original/file-20220907-16-29nv9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483192/original/file-20220907-16-29nv9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483192/original/file-20220907-16-29nv9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483192/original/file-20220907-16-29nv9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483192/original/file-20220907-16-29nv9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483192/original/file-20220907-16-29nv9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of Bamberg by Petrus Zweidler, 1602.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Staatsbibliothek Bamberg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When Bamburg got a railway station during industrialisation in 1844, fresh vegetables could also be delivered to more distant towns. Around 1900, at the height of the profession, 540 gardeners and their families grew vegetables, flowers and herbs in the Market Gardeners’ District.</p>
<p>The city thus enjoys a long tradition of urban gardening, with the knowledge of growing and harvesting crops as well as propagating seeds passed down from generation to generation. So valuable is the skill that it was included in the German inventory of <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/idea-and-practice-of-organizing-shared-interests-in-cooperatives-01200">Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016</a>.</p>
<h2>Challenges for traditional land use</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, horticulture has declined sharply in Bamberg in recent decades, with the number of commercial market gardens dropping to just 20 or 30 today. This is due to unfavourable competitive conditions linked to the spatial form of the Market Gardeners’ District: the small cultivation areas constrain mechanisation opportunities, irrigation costs are significantly higher than they would be in the countryside, and there are few parking spaces. As a result, large parts of the inner-city open space structures have fallen into disuse, despite the protection provided by the <a href="https://www.gesetze-bayern.de/Content/Document/BayDSchG">Bavarian Monument Protection Act</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Onion in full bloom" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481349/original/file-20220826-16-13um3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2816%2C1859&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481349/original/file-20220826-16-13um3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481349/original/file-20220826-16-13um3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481349/original/file-20220826-16-13um3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481349/original/file-20220826-16-13um3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481349/original/file-20220826-16-13um3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481349/original/file-20220826-16-13um3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Onion (<em>Allium cepa</em>) in full bloom in Bamberg’s Market Gardeners’ District.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hannah Roehlen/City of Bamberg</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Changing socio-cultural practices</h2>
<p>As indicated, despite medieval origins and legal prescription, the commercial cultivation of the Market Gardeners’ District has suffered from declining gardener numbers to the extent that official concerns over its survival are expressed. To complicate matters, the gardeners do not share a single identity but are split between two historical fraternities, mirroring parish divisions. Even today, there is strong membership allegiance to the fraternity, while weak cooperation between them as well as scepticism about cooperation with “outsiders” go on.</p>
<p>[<em>More than 80,000 readers look to The Conversation France’s newsletter for expert insights into the world’s most pressing issues</em>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/fr/newsletters/la-newsletter-quotidienne-5?utm_source=inline-70ksignup">Sign up now</a>]</p>
<p>The organisation in 2012 of the <a href="https://www.lgs.de/">Bavarian State Garden Show</a> in combination with funding through the <a href="https://panorama.solutions/en/solution/revitalizing-historically-rooted-urban-gardening-within-world-heritage-city-bamberg-germany">National Investment Programme for World Heritage Sites</a> have contributed to positive changes. The Bamberg Gardeners’ Interest Group was established to stimulate and consolidate closer cooperation between gardeners. In parallel, other new actor entered Bamberg’s system of urban horticulture:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The <a href="https://bambergersuessholz.com/suessholz/">Bamberg Liquorice Society</a> was formed in 2009 with the view of renewing the cultivation of the traditional crop. It ceased to be produced commercially in the mid-1960s, breaking a link that had existed for 500 years in Bamberg. The Liquorice Society’s products, including tea, are sold locally but are not competitive nationally.</p></li>
<li><p>The <a href="https://bamberger-sortengarten.de/">Heritage Garden</a>, created in 2012, is an innovation intended to retain urban horticulture spaces. In this case, a plot left uncultivated after the retirement of a commercial gardener was rented and became a repository for over 30 distinctive local vegetable varieties that are ideally adapted to the local climate and soil. Supporters have unearthed old recipes which list them as ingredients in order that earlier culinary uses can be revived. Stakeholders claim that the research, discovery and communication of knowledge and attributes of historical recipes will encourage commercial gardeners to grow local vegetable varieties once again, following their decline within common use in Bamberg.</p></li>
<li><p>The goal of the <a href="https://www.transition-initiativen.org/standorte/transition-bamberg">Transition Town</a> (TT) group of a collaborative <a href="https://www.transition-bamberg.de/selbsterntegarten/">Self-Harvesting Garden</a>, established in 2016, is to enhance urban sustainability through food production. In contrast to the Liquorice Society and Heritage Garden, the Self-Harvesting Garden pursues a more political concern, supporting the transition of urban society to a post-growth format. As part of its work, the group rents fallow land from a commercial market gardener, helps to train TT members, and manages their plots for a small fee.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Connecting commercial gardeners with new civil society groups to refresh urban horticulture draws from a long horticultural tradition.</p>
<h2>Urban development and food production</h2>
<p>Urban horticulture generally operates within short food chains, and production activities have a range of community-related objectives. In Bamberg, the case of a remnant of medieval commercial market gardens has shown us it is possible to integrate urban development and food production, while conserving the best of local heritage.</p>
<p>Even though the number of professional gardeners has declined sharply, alternative forms of cultivation are in the process of filling this vacuum. The Market Gardeners’ District thus remains an integral part of the World Heritage City of Bamberg – a part that secures food, promotes sustainability and contributes to climate mitigation.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485371/original/file-20220919-8367-ezx2di.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485371/original/file-20220919-8367-ezx2di.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485371/original/file-20220919-8367-ezx2di.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485371/original/file-20220919-8367-ezx2di.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485371/original/file-20220919-8367-ezx2di.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485371/original/file-20220919-8367-ezx2di.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485371/original/file-20220919-8367-ezx2di.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/next50/">50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention</a> (16 November 2022): World Heritage as a source of resilience, humanity and innovation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patricia Alberth chairs the International Association of World Heritage Professionals.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Keech, Heike Oevermann, Li Fan et Marc Redepenning ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur poste universitaire.</span></em></p>Urban farming is an ancient tradition in Bamberg, and the gardeners’ district is an integral part of the World Heritage City, growing food, promoting sustainability and fighting climate change.Patricia Alberth, Head of World Heritage Office at the City of Bamberg, UnescoDaniel Keech, Senior Research Fellow, University of GloucestershireHeike Oevermann, Professor in Conservation of Historical Monuments, University of BambergLi Fan, Research associate, department of Urban Redevelopment and Urban Renewal, University of KasselMarc Redepenning, Professor, University of BambergLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1776362022-02-24T15:12:20Z2022-02-24T15:12:20ZHow the US and UK worked together to recolonise the Chagos Islands and evict Chagossians<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447796/original/file-20220222-19-sc19ct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Citizens of the Indian Ocean island of Chagos at the High Court in London.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On 15 February 2022 the Mauritian flag <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60378487">was raised</a> on two Indian Ocean atolls, Peros Banos and Salomon, both belonging to the Chagos archipelago. This was the first time that Mauritius’ flag was raised in the Chagos Islands, even though there is <a href="https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/the-chagos-islanders-and-international-law/ch4-the-1965-lancaster-house-agreement-and-international-law">clear evidence</a> that these 60 islands form part of its sovereign territory. </p>
<p>Currently, the UK maintains control over the archipelago. The whole of Mauritius used to be a British colony, the Chagos islands were detached in 1965, from the Crown Colony prior to granting Mauritius independence. A new colonial territory was created – effectively recolonising the archipelago – under the name ‘British Indian Ocean Territory’ (BIOT). </p>
<p>The largest and most heavily populated island in the archipelago is Diego Garcia. This island was <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/psp.1754">home to the majority of the nearly 2,000 exiled Chagossians</a> who are prohibited from returning. Today, this island is home to a <a href="https://www.navifor.usff.navy.mil/ncts-diegogarcia/">US Naval Communication Station</a> with a few thousand US troops and international support staff. </p>
<p>I’ve <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10612-021-09570-4">carried out research</a> on the recolonisation of the Chagos Archipelago, the forced eviction of the Chagossians, and the role of both the UK and US governments in this. </p>
<p>Despite the archipelago’s name – which indicates it is a British colony – the forcible eviction of the Chagossians was set in motion in the US. As part of the <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781627791694/basenation">US strategy to expand its military bases around the world</a>, Diego Garcia was <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Diego_Garcia/pfxK0J40ab0C?hl=en&gbpv=0">identified</a> in 1958, as an ideal location for a future military base by a US naval officer. </p>
<p>The island was considered particularly desirable both because of its location in the Indian Ocean and its <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691149837/island-of-shame">small population that could easily be removed</a>. Bases are a critical element of the US hegemon, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374172145/howtohideanempire">a hidden empire</a>, which benefits US defense and intelligence interests. The base in Diego Garcia has been a vital location for manoeuvres across the Indian Ocean, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0020-7985.2004.00291.x">including enabling the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq</a>. </p>
<p>The removal of the local population would ensure that there would be <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/united-states-overseas-basing-an-anatomy-of-the-dilemma/oclc/492037352">no political calls for sovereignty</a> or <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/military-power-and-popular-protest/9780813530918">social movements</a> that could curtail military operations. In 1960, the process of acquiring the islands began with <a href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v21">a secret conversation</a> between the US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and the British Minister of Defense Peter Thorneycroft.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2000/413.html">communication</a> between British government officials:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the primary objective in acquiring these islands…was to ensure that Her Majesty’s Government had full title to, and control over, these islands so that they could be used for the construction of defense facilities without hindrance or political agitation and so that when a particular island would be needed for the construction of British or United States defense facilities Britain or the United States should be able to clear it of its current population. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Americans in particular <a href="https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=2850&context=gc_etds">attached great importance</a> to the freedom of manoeuvre that comes from operating on an depopulated island.</p>
<h2>Circumventing laws</h2>
<p>The 1960 conversations resulted in the UK detaching the Chagos Islands from Mauritius for the purpose of recolonisation. This separation from Mauritius was unlawful and went against a UN <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/Independence.aspx#:%7E:text=General%20Assembly%20resolution%201514%20(XV)%20of%2014%20December%201960&text=The%20subjection%20of%20peoples%20to,world%20peace%20and%20co%2Doperation">resolution</a> and the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-11">UN charter</a>.</p>
<p>In order to circumvent international law, the British Parliament, and the US Congress, the British Indian Ocean Territory was created using an <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/orders-in-council/">Order in Council</a>. This uses Royal Prerogative, a discretionary power to implement actions without parliamentary authority. </p>
<p>In 1965, in what became known as the <a href="https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/the-chagos-islanders-and-international-law/ch4-the-1965-lancaster-house-agreement-and-international-law">Lancaster House Agreement,</a> Mauritius was granted independence on the condition that it relinquish the Chagos Islands to Britain. </p>
<p>The following year, the US drafted an agreement for the lease of the islands from the UK. The agreement took the form of an <a href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20603/volume-603-I-8737-English.pdf">Exchange of Notes,</a> where the Chagos Islands were leased to the US for an initial 50-year term with <a href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20603/volume-603-I-8737-English.pdf">an option</a> for a 20-year extension. This option was exercised in 2016, extending occupation to 2036. </p>
<p>Notably, the two countries avoided using a treaty for this purpose, bypassing the need for domestic legislative approval in both countries.</p>
<p>Having secured ownership, the relocation of the indigenous people that lived there commenced. </p>
<h2>Forced evictions</h2>
<p>Chagossians, who were forcibly evicted from Diego Garcia, are <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Indian_Ocean_Perspectives_on_a_Strat/y4QRAAAAYAAJ?hl=en">prohibited</a> from seeking employment on the US Naval Base. Chagossians can’t even visit the island of Diego Garcia. </p>
<p>The forced eviction of the Chagossians, who it is estimated had a population of nearly 2000, occurred in four stages between 1967 and 1973. </p>
<p>The first stage was the <a href="https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/227-f-supp-2d-603849646">prevention</a> of re-entry of Chagossians who left Diego Garcia for medical or tourist purposes in 1967. This was done without any notice.</p>
<p>The second stage was the implementation of <a href="https://www.internationalcrimesdatabase.org/Case/871/Bancoult-v-McNamara/">import restrictions</a> that created scarcity and made remaining on the island difficult. </p>
<p>The third stage involved threats and coercion. This took two forms. First, in poisoning, shooting, gassing, and burning all pet dogs on the island. Second, in demolishing the homes of Chagossians. These actions were <a href="https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2003/2222.html">ordered by</a> the British Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory, Sir Bruce Greatbatch. The orders were carried out with the assistance of the US Naval Construction Battalions. </p>
<p>The depopulation was finalised with the <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmfaff/memo/147/ucm5402.htm">1971 Immigration Ordinance No.1</a>. It prohibited Chagossians from entering or remaining on the islands.</p>
<p>The exiled Chagossians were mostly left homeless and destitute in the Mauritius, some were sent to Seychelles. They were left to live in dilapidated shacks in slums, without support or employment opportunities. Although some <a href="https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2003/2222.html">meager compensation</a> was handed down, this came years after lengthy court battles and amounted to about £1000 (about US$1300) per person, although not all received this sum. The resulting insecurity and trauma has had <a href="http://www.chagosislandersmovement.com/">a profound impact</a> on those directly affected and on subsequent generations of Chagossians. </p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>On the request of the UN General Assembly, the <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/169/169-20190225-01-00-EN.pdf">International Court of Justice, on 25th February, 2019,</a> deemed the detachment of the Chagos Islands from Mauritius and their incorporation into a new colony unlawful. The UN General Assembly passed <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3806313?ln=en">Resolution 73/295</a> on 22nd May, 2019 obligating the UK to withdraw its colonial administration within six months. </p>
<p>These decisions demonstrate that international attention is on the UK to relinquish its unlawful colonial hold on the archipelago. What is missing is an acknowledgement of the enduring role of the US in these international crimes. Beyond holding the US responsible for its role in depopulating the islands, it is clear that without the participation of the US, the harm caused, especially to the Chagossian people, will not be repaired. </p>
<p><a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/Mauritius-makes-play-for-future-with-US-base-on-Diego-Garcia">Mauritius has already offered the US a 99-year lease of Diego Garcia</a> in an effort to shore up US support for its efforts around the return of the Chagos Islands. It’s still not clear whether the US will allow the Chagossian people, that it insisted be removed, to return.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177636/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anamika Twyman-Ghoshal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Attention is on the UK to relinquish its hold on the islands. What’s missing is an acknowledgment of the enduring role of the US in this international crime.Anamika Twyman-Ghoshal, Senior Lecturer, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1458102020-09-14T13:48:07Z2020-09-14T13:48:07ZThe fourth agricultural revolution is coming – but who will really benefit?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357878/original/file-20200914-14-mh1pi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/farmer-holding-tablet-smart-arm-robot-1169646625">kung_tom/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Depending on who you listen to, artificial intelligence may either free us from monotonous labour and unleash huge productivity gains, or create a dystopia of mass unemployment and automated oppression. In the case of farming, some researchers, business people and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/oxford-farming-conference-2019-address-by-the-environment-secretary">politicians</a> think the effects of AI and other advanced technologies are so great they are spurring a “fourth agricultural revolution”.</p>
<p>Given the potentially transformative effects of upcoming technology on farming – positive and negative – it’s vital that we <a href="https://cals.cornell.edu/news/project-investigate-digital-ags-impacts-rural-america">pause and</a> reflect before the revolution takes hold. It <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837719319489?dgcid=author">must work for everyone</a>, whether it be farmers (regardless of their size or enterprise), landowners, farm workers, rural communities or the wider public. Yet, in a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soru.12324">recently published study</a> led by the researcher Hannah Barrett, we found that policymakers and the media and policymakers are framing the fourth agricultural revolution as overwhelmingly positive, without giving much focus to the potential negative consequences. </p>
<p>The first agricultural revolution occurred when humans started farming around 12,000 years ago. The second was the reorganisation of farmland from the 17th century onwards that followed the end of feudalism in Europe. And the third (also known as the green revolution) was the introduction of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and new high-yield crop breeds alongside heavy machinery in the 1950s and 1960s.</p>
<p>The fourth agricultural revolution, much like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-fourth-industrial-revolution-is-powering-the-rise-of-smart-manufacturing-57753">fourth industrial revolution</a>, refers to the anticipated changes from new technologies, particularly the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-can-tackle-the-climate-emergency-if-developed-responsibly-132908">use of AI</a> to make smarter planning decisions and power autonomous robots. Such intelligent machines could be used for growing and picking crops, weeding, milking livestock and distributing agrochemicals <a href="https://droneag.farm/">via drone</a>. Other farming-specific technologies include new types of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/2018/08/why-gene-editing-next-food-revolution">gene editing</a> to develop higher yielding, disease-resistant crops; <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/welcome-to-the-future-of-farming-c6lshbhsb">vertical farms</a>; and <a href="https://theconversation.com/meat-grown-from-cells-companies-clamour-to-put-it-on-your-plate-105171">synthetic lab-grown meat</a>. </p>
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<p>These technologies are attracting <a href="https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2018/feb/agriculture-4-0--the-future-of-farming-technology.html">huge amounts</a> of funding and investment <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X19310522">in the quest</a> to boost food production while minimising further environmental degradation. This might, in part, be related to positive media coverage. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soru.12324">Our research</a> found that UK coverage of new farming technologies tends to be optimistic, portraying them as key to solving farming challenges. </p>
<p>However, many previous agricultural technologies were also greeted with similar enthusiasm before leading to controversy later on, such as with the first <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennysplitter/2019/12/20/how-a-decade-of-gmo-controversy-changed-the-dialogue-about-food/#32fd45d06434">genetically modified crops</a> and chemicals such as the now-banned <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/story-silent-spring">pesticide DDT</a>. Given wider controversies surrounding emergent technologies like <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/why-does-nanotechnology-divide-public-opinion">nanotechnology</a> and <a href="https://driverless-futures.com/">driverless cars</a>, unchecked or blind techno-optimism is unwise.</p>
<p>We mustn’t assume that all of these new farming technologies will be adopted without overcoming certain barriers. Precedent tells us that benefits are unlikely to be spread evenly across society and that some people will lose out. We need to understand who might lose and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1573521419301769">what we can do</a> about it, and ask wider questions such as whether new technologies will actually deliver as promised.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cows in a large circular robotic milking machine" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357879/original/file-20200914-16-hr67pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357879/original/file-20200914-16-hr67pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357879/original/file-20200914-16-hr67pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357879/original/file-20200914-16-hr67pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357879/original/file-20200914-16-hr67pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357879/original/file-20200914-16-hr67pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357879/original/file-20200914-16-hr67pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Robotic milking might be efficient but creates new stresses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/automatic-milking-system-robotic-dairy-farm-718574335">Mark Brandon/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Robotic milking of cows provides a good example. In our research, a farmer told us that using robots had improved his work-life balance and allowed a disabled farm worker to avoid dextrous tasks on the farm. But they had also created a “different kind of stress” due to the resulting information overload and the perception that the farmer needed to be monitoring data 24/7.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nfuonline.com/">National Farmers’ Union</a> (NFU) argues that new technologies <a href="https://www.nfuonline.com/nfu-online/news/the-future-of-food-2040/">could attract</a> younger, more technically skilled entrants to an ageing workforce. Such breakthroughs could enable a wider range of people to engage in farming by eliminating the back-breaking stereotypes through greater use of machinery. </p>
<p>But existing farm workers at risk of being replaced by a machine or whose skills are unsuited to a new style of farming will inevitably be less excited by the prospect of change. And they <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718517303421">may not enjoy</a> being forced to spend less time working outside, becoming increasingly reliant on machines instead of their own knowledge.</p>
<h2>Power imbalance</h2>
<p>There are also potential <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-can-tackle-the-climate-emergency-if-developed-responsibly-132908">power inequalities</a> in this new revolution. Our research found that some farmers were optimistic about a high-tech future. But others wondered whether those with less capital, poor broadband availability and IT skills, and access to advice on how to use the technology would be able to benefit. </p>
<p>History suggests technology companies and larger farm businesses are often the winners of this kind of change, and benefits don’t always trickle down to smaller family farms. In the context of the fourth agricultural revolution, this could mean farmers not owning or being able to fully access <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3322276.3322382">the data</a> gathered on their farms by new technologies. Or reliance on companies to maintain increasingly important and complex equipment.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Driverless tractor and drone pass over a field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357882/original/file-20200914-22-12qz6ib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357882/original/file-20200914-22-12qz6ib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357882/original/file-20200914-22-12qz6ib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357882/original/file-20200914-22-12qz6ib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357882/original/file-20200914-22-12qz6ib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357882/original/file-20200914-22-12qz6ib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357882/original/file-20200914-22-12qz6ib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Advanced machinery can tie farmers to tech firms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/autonomous-tractor-drone-smart-farming-concept-1367058104">Scharfsinn/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The controversy surrounding GM crops (which are created by inserting DNA from other organisms) provides a frank reminder that there is no guarantee that new technologies will be embraced by the public. A similar backlash could occur if the public perceive gene editing (which instead involves making small, controlled changes to a living organism’s DNA) as tantamount to GM. Proponents of <a href="https://www.foodandfarmingtechnology.com/news/livestock-monitoring/dairy-herds-the-moooove-to-wearable-technology.html">wearable technology for livestock</a> claim they improve welfare, but the public might see the use of such devices as treating <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjhs-themes/article/bovine-and-human-becomings-in-histories-of-dairy-technologies-robotic-milking-systems-and-remaking-animal-and-human-subjectivity/8336DA9ACBFA2A212D589B675605A2E6">animals like machines</a>.</p>
<p>Instead of blind optimism, we need to identify where benefits and disadvantages of new agricultural technology will occur and for whom. This process must include a wide range of people to help create society-wide <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1573521418302173">responsible visions</a> for the future of farming. </p>
<p>The NFU <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/12/08/britain-using-technology-lead-new-farming-revolution/">has said</a> the fourth agricultural revolution is “exciting - as well as a bit scary … but then the two often go together”. It is time to discuss the scary aspects with the same vigour as the exciting part.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145810/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Rose is funded by the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust. For other research, he is currently funded by the ESRC, AHDB, and Defra and is the Elizabeth Creak Associate Professor of Agricultural Innovation and Extension at the University of Reading. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlotte-Anne Chivers receives funding from the University of Exeter and the Environment Agency. She is affiliated with the Countryside and Community Research Institute at the University of Gloucestershire and the Centre for Rural Policy Research at the University of Exeter. </span></em></p>AI, robots and other technologies could transform farming – for worse as well as for better.David Rose, Elizabeth Creak Associate Professor of Agricultural Innovation and Extension, University of ReadingCharlotte-Anne Chivers, Research Assistant, Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1079092019-04-10T14:03:39Z2019-04-10T14:03:39ZMaking sense of the world: a walk down Jubilee Street with Nick Cave<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268112/original/file-20190408-2935-1svw4ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australian rock musician Nick Cave.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laurent Gillieron/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The world’s a mess. How do thoughtful people make sense of it all? In this series we’ve asked a number of our authors to suggest a book, philosopher, work of art – or anything else, for that matter – that will help to make sense of it all.</em> </p>
<p>There was a time when I thought I had pretty good concentration. That time is gone. Sucked into a vortex of addictive news checking, Twitter feeding, I keep on updating, streaming, screaming, plugged into yet more “news from nowhere”. Angry old white men, angry young white men, forests up in flames, towns dragged down in mud, turtles wrapped up in plastic. I need an “out”. </p>
<p>Flying around Europe for work (EU funded, so yes, Brexit kills me) I find myself playing the same song over and over again. It’s my way not of “making sense” of what seems mostly to be nonsense, but of finding an outlet – one that creates its own different, poetic world.</p>
<p>Every time the plane takes off I play “Jubilee Street”, a song by Australian rock musician <a href="https://www.nickcave.com/">Nick Cave</a> – over and over again.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds performing ‘Jubilee Street’ in concert. WARNING: Some language may offend sensitive listeners.</span></figcaption>
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<p>And it’s not only my takeoff soundtrack. I play it when I need to be somewhere else, where not making sense has its own beauty and internally coherent narrative. I need to hear a Nick Cave story and out of all of them, from all his time in music, “Jubilee Street” is the “magic one”.</p>
<p>I have been listening, on and off, to Cave ever since he screamed “Hands up Who wants to Die” on “Sonny’s Burning” with his band <a href="http://www.thebirthdayparty.com.au/">The Birthday Party</a> in 1983. I 5fell out of love with him for some time but there he was, always making music. There were side projects with singers <a href="https://www.kylie.com/">Kylie Minogue</a> and <a href="http://pjharvey.net/">PJ Harvey</a>, there was the band <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/grinderman">Grinderman</a>, his porn alter ego, and there were film scores.</p>
<p>All the time, along with Warren Ellis, his close musical collaborator, multi-instrumentalist, friend and fiendish violinist, he has been concocting stories about love, death, violence and sex. No one sounds like him. No bands plough his furrow. His world is indebted to the Western, the Gothic, to the <a href="http://www.grandguignol.com/history.htm">Grand Guignol</a> (The Theatre of the Great Puppet).</p>
<p>His music is the sonic equivalent of <a href="https://www.davidlynch.com/">David Lynch’s</a> films Wild at Heart or Blue Velvet, like German film director Werner Herzog’s <a href="https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2019/01/10/werner-herzogs-nosferatu-the-vampire-forty-years-later">Nosferatu the Vampyre</a>. It sounds odd to say that it functions as an escape, but Cave’s world has always been the same, existing in a parallel space to the “real” world.</p>
<h2>Love and loss</h2>
<p><a href="https://genius.com/Nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds-jubilee-street-lyrics">“Jubilee Street”</a> is, like a lot of Cave’s work, a tale of love and loss. It recalls a woman called “Bee” who lives on the titular street making “ends meet”. She has a “little black book” wherein the protagonist finds his name written, “on every page”. </p>
<p>Bee is a working girl. Beyond that, the narrative becomes surreal and Cave starts to spin his web. Images that are not possible in this world become imaginable within his; if you suspend disbelief, you travel with him as he sings this song. </p>
<p>He carries strange things on chains and leashes, pushes impossible objects up hills, for some reason “the Russians” move into Bee’s place when it closes down, and all the while the song builds and builds to its climax where Cave sings about transforming, about flying. He marvels:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Look at me now! </p>
</blockquote>
<p>What he might have turned into, who knows? He laments how he is “out of place and time”, and “over the hill” and out of his mind. This confession of insanity and ageing, the feeling that he doesn’t belong, that he is out of kilter with the world. It’s one that makes no sense to him since Bee left – it is one that is confusing but tantalising, kaleidoscopic in its imagery. It’s the tale of a lost man who somehow finds beauty in his predicament. And this is why I guess it makes sense now.</p>
<p>The track comes from the 2013 album <a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17618-push-the-sky-away/">Push The Sky Away</a> and was recorded in the South of France, where a children’s choir sang the backing vocals. Its hook, 18 notes that emerge early on in the song, is played on violin and echoes later in the children’s voices. </p>
<p>It is showcased at the end of the trailer for the film <a href="http://www.iainandjane.com/work/film-tv/20000-days-on-earth/">“20 000 days on this Earth”</a> by Ian Forsyth and Jane Pollard, which depicts Cave in a gold lamé
shirt performing at Sydney Opera House in 2014, arms out, crucifixial, shamanic. And so he acts out, in song and on stage, this ability to transform, to change, to become the butterfly, to soar into beauty. </p>
<h2>Compelling cinematic images</h2>
<p>Cave has experienced <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/the-love-and-terror-of-nick-cave">family tragedy</a>, losing one of his twin sons at 15. He has courted political and peer disapproval by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/dec/11/nick-cave-cultural-boycott-israel-brian-eno">performing in Israel</a>. But his life and political decisions are not what draws me to him – far from it. It’s his work, his conjured up worlds, that create compelling cinematic images I want to visit again and again. </p>
<p>Try <a href="https://www.songfacts.com/facts/nick-cave-the-bad-seeds/stagger-lee">“Stagger Lee”</a> and you will be transported to a mid-century, mid-Western town where the outlaws rule. Listen to <a href="https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858521629/">“Nature Boy”</a> and you will marvel at a relationship where the guy dresses up in a deep-sea diving suit for erotic charge. Listen to <a href="https://www.nickcave.com/lyrics/nick-cave-bad-seeds/boatmans-call/arms/">“Into my Arms”</a> for a love song, <a href="https://variety.com/2018/music/news/nick-cave-song-peaky-blinders-red-right-hand-1202692550/">“Red Right Hand”</a> for a murderer’s confession, or <a href="https://www.nickcave.com/lyrics/nick-cave-bad-seeds/let-love/loverman/">“Loverman”</a> for some deranged sex. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/nick-cave-dreams-of-miley-cyrus-in-higgs-boson-blues-75557/">“Higgs Bosun Blues”</a> sees Cave “driving down to Geneva”, boasts a cast of pop star Miley Cyrus and bluesman Robert Johnson, and includes an edict to bury him with his yellow, patent leather shoes should he die. But first, try “Jubilee Street” because of its creeping, haunting beauty. Cave finds poetry in the darkness. That’s why I keep listening to him.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abigail Gardner receives funding from Erasmus+ </span></em></p>Rock artist Nick Cave finds poetry in the darkness - his song “Jubilee Street” is an example.Abigail Gardner, Reader in Music and Media, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/887332017-12-11T15:15:08Z2017-12-11T15:15:08Z‘Ghost Town’: a haunting 1981 protest song that still makes sense today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198036/original/file-20171206-31555-wk7xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The cover of "Ghost town".</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pop Sike</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>England, 1981. In some rural South West discos menace was in the air; no night complete without a fight, <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/03/29/british-skinheads/#lq96___3LgqA">Skinheads</a> attacking whoever riled them, flick knives at the ready. Tracks by <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/madness-mn0000195874">Madness</a>, <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-english-beat-mn0000197921">The Beat</a> and <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-selecter-mn0000504276">The Selecter</a> were the soundtrack to these nights. These bands played <a href="http://jamaicansmusic.com/learn/origins/ska">ska music</a>, a popular Jamaican genre from which reggae evolved.</p>
<p>But when <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-13780074">“Ghost Town”</a> by <a href="http://www.thespecials.com/">The Specials</a> came on, everyone stopped. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">“Ghost Town” by The Specials.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Formed in 1977 and arguably the most influential band of the UK’s <a href="https://rateyourmusic.com/genre/2+Tone/">2 Tone Ska</a> scene, “Ghost Town”, a skewed ska oddity, was written by Jerry Dammers, The Specials’ keyboardist and released in June 1981. It was their last song before splitting up and reforming as The Special AKA and stayed at the top of the UK charts for three weeks.</p>
<h2>Odd, eerie song</h2>
<p>It’s an odd, eerie song, nodding to pop convention and sitting wilfully outside of it. It’s included, in passing, in Dorian Lynskey’s beautifully written book on protest songs, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/mar/20/33-revolutions-minute-protest-songs">“33 Revolutions Per Minute”</a>, but unlike the band’s “Free Nelson Mandela” does not merit its own chapter.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">“Free Nelson Mandela” by The Special AKA.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps because “Ghost Town” cannot be “placed”. It’s not explicitly against any one event. It does not exhort its listeners into any one particular political view. It is not part of any one social movement for change. It is, rather, a stealth protest song. </p>
<p>Starting with a Hammond organ’s six ascending notes before a mournful flute solo, it paints a bleak aural and lyrical landscape. Written in E♭, more attuned to “mood music”, with nods to cinematic soundtracks and music hall tradition, it reflects and engenders anxiety. </p>
<p>The whispered chorus of “This Town/ is coming like a Ghost town” is then heard, followed by front man Terry Hall’s deadpan vocals lamenting how “all the clubs have been closed down” because there is “too much fighting on the dance floor”.</p>
<p>One of the clubs referred to in the song was <a href="http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/lifestyle/nostalgia/gallery/locarno-ballroom-10657835">The Locarno</a> in Coventry, the Midlands UK city where the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/mar/30/2tone-label-specials-madness">2 Tone record label</a> started in the late 1970s. </p>
<p>2 Tone had emerged stylistically from the <a href="https://therake.com/stories/style/street-smarts-mods-rudeboys-teddy-boys-punks/">Mod and Punk subcultures</a> and its musical roots and the people in it, audiences and bands, were both black and white. Ska and the related Jamaican <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ym9n4">Rocksteady</a> were its musical foundations, sharpened further by punk attitude and anger. It was this anger that Dammers articulated in “Ghost Town”, galvanised both what he had seen on tour around the UK in 1981 and what was happening in the band, which was riven by internal tensions. </p>
<p>England was hit by recession and away from rural Skinhead nights, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-16313781">riots</a> were breaking out across its urban areas. Deprived, forgotten, run down and angry, these were places where young people, black and white, erupted. In these neglected parts of London, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool the young, the unemployed, and the disaffected fought pitch battles with the police. </p>
<p>“Ghost Town” was the mournful sound of these riots, a poetic protest. It articulates anger at a state structure, an economic system and an entrenched animosity towards the young, black, white and poor. It asks,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>why must the youth fight against themselves. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In his book Lynskey argues that “like all great records about social collapse, it seems to both fear and relish calamity” and its ambiguity allows it to soundtrack more than the riots about which it was written. It is an angry elegy for lost opportunity, lost youth, an acid flavoured lament for what was and what could be. </p>
<p>The streets that The Specials conjure up in “Ghost Town” are inhabited by ghosts; dancing is a memory, silence reigns. The sounds of life, community, creativity are no longer, “bands don’t play no more”. In the song’s short bridge section in the bright key of G♭ major, Hall asks us to,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>remember the good old days/before the ghost town/ when we danced and sang/ and the music played ina de boom town". </p>
</blockquote>
<p>And as Charles Dickens wrote in his <a href="http://example.com/">“A Christmas Carol”</a>, ghosts are spectres not only of the past, but of the present and future too, traces of what was, is and might have been. “Ghost Town” is the haunting track of thousands of lost futures. And in 2011, when England <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14436499">erupted</a> again and the cities burnt, “Ghost Town” was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2011/aug/09/specials-ghost-town">remembered and replayed</a>.</p>
<h2>Strange music video</h2>
<p>Its audio-visual manifestation was also strange. The music video was directed by <a href="http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/03/barney-bubbles-feature">Barney Bubbles</a> and filmed in the East End of London, Blackwell Tunnel and a before-hours City of London. Opening with upshots of brutalist grey tower blocks to the sound of those Hammond organ chords and flute, it seems as though there is no one in town but The Specials, who are all crowded into a 1962 Vauxhall Cresta, careering through the empty streets and lip syncing. </p>
<p>This in itself constitutes “eerie” if we use cultural critic Mark Fisher’s work, <a href="https://repeaterbooks.com/product/the-weird-and-the-eerie/">“The Weird And The Eerie”</a>, to understand it. He <a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/21524-mark-fisher-weird-eerie-kubrick-tarkovsky-nolan-review">wrote</a> how,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The sensation of the eerie occurs either when there is something present where there should be nothing, or there is nothing present when there should be something.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Here, in a major capital city, where the streets should be teeming, there is no-one but The Specials, a group of young black and white men, from a depressed and demoralised Midlands town. They are in charge. </p>
<p>As if to further underline this, the camera was placed on the car bonnet so we see The Specials as if they are crashing into us. And when they all sing “yah, ya ya, ya, yaah, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya…”, they seem like an insane Greek chorus, before Lynval Golding, the band’s rhythm guitarist and vocalist, murmurs the last line “the people getting angry”. The song fades out in dub reggae tradition, inconclusive, echoing. </p>
<h2>Not a dance track</h2>
<p>So what did those fight-ready Skinheads do in those small town discos when “Ghost Town” came on? Not <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Moonstomp">moonstomping</a>, not smooching. This was not a dance track. It wasn’t the “romantic” one the DJ played at the end of the night. </p>
<p>When “Ghost Town” played, the Skinheads sang along with Terry Hall, smiled manically and screeched. They joined into to the “ghastly chorus” and became, for a few minutes, part of that army of spectres. Because protest sometimes has no words. </p>
<p>It’s just a cry out against injustice, against closed off opportunities by those who have pulled the ladder up and robbed the young, the poor, the white and black of their songs and their dancing, their futures. Drive round an empty city at dawn. Look at the empty flats. </p>
<p>See the streets before the bankers get there and after the cleaning ladies have gone. And put young, poor, disadvantaged people in that car. See how “Ghost Town” makes sense. Now.</p>
<p><em>Protest music has made a serious comeback over the past five years. This article is the first in a series featuring Songs of Protest from across the world, genres and generations.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88733/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abigail Gardner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A 1981 odd and eerie protest song, ‘Ghost Town’, still resonates today. It remains a cry out against injustice, against closed off opportunities by those who have pulled the ladder up.Abigail Gardner, Reader in Music and Media, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/847922017-09-28T10:51:10Z2017-09-28T10:51:10ZWe faced abuse for asking people to kill wasps for science – here’s why it was worthwhile<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187996/original/file-20170928-22252-4xioxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>When we launched a citizen science project earlier this year, we didn’t expect to get in so much trouble.</p>
<p>We wanted to public to help us find out more about social wasps (the kind that bother us at picnics and BBQs) and so we launched the <a href="http://www.bigwaspsurvey.org">Big Wasp Survey</a>. Social wasps are essential <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/in-defence-of-wasps-why-squashing-them-comes-with-a-sting-in-the-tale-a7144306.html">pest-controllers and pollinators</a>, but some species are declining while others are expanding their populations and range. Without basic data on the abundance and distribution of these wasps, we can’t conserve (or control) them.</p>
<p>Yet we know relatively little about social wasps in Britain. So we asked the public to set out beer-filled traps for a short period of time when mostly old and soon-to-die worker wasps would be active. This approach would provide essential data that we need to manage social wasp populations. But beer traps kill wasps, and that seemed to upset a lot of people.</p>
<p>Asking the public to kill wasps in the name of science led to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/23/conservationists-slam-hateful-survey-promoting-wasp-killing">high–profile</a> <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/849601/Countryfile-sparks-backlash-over-wasp-segment-BBC-Tom-Heap-John-Craven-Adam-Henson">national media</a> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/08/22/public-urged-drown-wasps-beer-bizarre-conservation-project-condemned/">condemnation</a>. But our negative experiences were relatively mild – some scientists studying invertebrates have been subjected to torrents of <a href="http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a813127/scientists-murdered-record-breaking-worm-and-twitter-wants-justice-for-him">social media abuse</a> for “killing in the name of science”.</p>
<p>It seems our study played into an old stereotype of an entomologist as a Victorian-style net-wielding naturalist, capturing and killing six-legged victims that are then pinned and banished to dusty drawers. More a lethal stamp-collector than a scientist.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187966/original/file-20170928-1483-1kk573j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187966/original/file-20170928-1483-1kk573j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187966/original/file-20170928-1483-1kk573j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187966/original/file-20170928-1483-1kk573j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187966/original/file-20170928-1483-1kk573j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187966/original/file-20170928-1483-1kk573j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187966/original/file-20170928-1483-1kk573j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Outdated stereotype.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The reality is modern entomologists are involved in science that underpins pressing societal and environmental issues including medicine, genetics, ecology and climate change. Unfortunately, this research still relies on killing insects, a practice accepted as a necessary evil by scientists but easily criticised by others, as we found.</p>
<p>There are three main reasons why entomologists sometimes have to kill what they study. First, many insects can only be identified by microscopic examination, for example by the <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/8/1/11">shape of their genitalia</a>. A photograph simply isn’t enough for this. We need a dead specimen.</p>
<p>Second, we often need a lethal approach to catching insects, using techniques such as pan traps (open pans of water) or pitfall traps (sunken traps filled with fluid to kill and preserve insects that fall in). Otherwise it’s much too difficult to catch them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187970/original/file-20170928-22252-dch47v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187970/original/file-20170928-22252-dch47v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187970/original/file-20170928-22252-dch47v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187970/original/file-20170928-22252-dch47v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187970/original/file-20170928-22252-dch47v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187970/original/file-20170928-22252-dch47v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187970/original/file-20170928-22252-dch47v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s a trap!</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, scientists have learnt a great deal about some important and fundamental aspects of biology and medicine by killing insects. Data on the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01005.x/full">effects of agriculture</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2008.01454.x/full">habitat change</a>, the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2311.2000.00204.x/full">effects of pollution</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/0012-9658(1998)079%255b1084:IPAAPC%255d2.0.CO;2/full">predator-prey dynamics</a>, and the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2486.2002.00451.x/full">ecological effects of climate change</a> come directly from studies that leave dead insects in their wake.</p>
<p>The field of genetics would also be nowhere without the <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v1/n3/full/nrg1200_218a.html?foxtrotcallback=true">fruit fly</a>, which have died in their billions to provide DNA samples in our quest to unravel the fundamental mechanisms of life. Likewise, the American cockroach, the Indian cricket and the mosquito have all died to develop our understanding of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0070215308601349">nervous systems</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1748-5967.12088/epdf">ageing</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11523826">development</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079610715000346">disease</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cgGy7sKRvQo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In the case of the Big Wasp Survey, relying on untrained citizen scientists to observe wasps without killing them wasn’t an option. We needed a standard method that everyone could follow and it isn’t possible to reliably observe and count individuals without trapping them. Although there are only eight common species of social wasp in the UK, it’s surprisingly difficult to identify them from living specimens. Without proper wasp identification, our study would be scientifically obsolete.</p>
<p>If we can collect a colony’s worth of wasps we can generate fundamental science to help manage and conserve these important insects. But, again, this would be completely impossible without the actual (dead) specimens for us to accurately identify and use to find out which species are where. We also couldn’t develop any additional research, such as looking at how wasp colour varies in different places, which might reflect pollution levels.</p>
<h2>Reduce, refine, replace</h2>
<p>Biological research on vertebrate animals (such as fish, mammals and birds) is underpinned by the environmental principle of the <a href="http://www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/how/three-rs/">Three Rs</a> (reduce, refine, replace). Insect scientists also adopt this principle where they can.</p>
<p>For example, you can use <a href="http://www.statmethods.net/stats/power.html">statistical maths</a> to work out the minimum number of individuals (or samples) required to test a particular theory. Improved photography can let us identify some insects such as <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/our-work/digital-museum/digital-collections-programme/digitising-butterfly-moth-collections.html">butterflies</a> without killing them. We can even now use <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-003-0672-6">non-lethal methods</a> to take minute quantities of DNA from some insects, allowing us to identify them without killing them.</p>
<p>Every day, billions of insects die splattered on vehicles, poisoned by insecticides or casually swatted for no scientific benefit. In contrast, the tiny number killed by entomologists help us to understand, among many other things, genetics, disease and ecology. The Big Wasp Survey has already collected data from several thousand locations across the UK, engaged millions of people with the value of social wasps and sparked off a number of potential new scientific collaborations with ecologists across Europe.</p>
<p>Entomologists have <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ii4OAAAAQAAJ&lpg=PA293&ots=-Ob6E4TaH5&dq=newman%2520history%2520of%2520insects&pg=PA89#v=onepage&q=newman%2520history%2520of%2520insects&f=false">long been troubled</a> by the need to kill insects, and are seeking ways to reduce, refine and replace fatal sampling and identification methods. In the meantime, and in the face of censure and condemnation from those that do not understand the science, entomologists will have to continue to kill insects to make meaningful scientific advances.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84792/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Killing insects, as the Big Wasp Survey asked people to do, contributed to many vital advances in science.Adam Hart, Professor of Science Communication, University of GloucestershireSeirian Sumner, Reader in Behavioural Ecology, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/834582017-09-06T18:51:35Z2017-09-06T18:51:35ZWhose record is it anyway? Musical ‘crate digging’ across Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184544/original/file-20170904-17952-10p5utg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigerian 80s artist William Onyeabor.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Luaka Bop</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Legendary UK Radio DJ, the late <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/biography/">John Peel</a> used to play Zimbabwe’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/sep/17/worldmusic1">The Bhundu Boys</a> on his shows. A lot. Throughout the mid-80s, their <a href="https://rateyourmusic.com/genre/Jit/">jit-jive</a> would appear alongside Mancunians <a href="https://thefall.xyz/">The Fall’s</a> <a href="http://observer.com/2016/10/post-punk-101-what-is-post-punk/">post-punk</a> and <a href="https://neubauten.org/">Einstürzende Neubauten’s</a> German industrial noise. </p>
<p>If Peel liked a band, he really championed them. And he really <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/16/john-peel-plays-bhundu-boys">loved</a> The Bhundu Boys. Peel was <a href="http://intimatemomentswithzimmusicians.blogspot.co.za/2011/09/bhundu-boys-zimbabwes-musical-heartache.html">in tears</a> the first time he saw them play live. The Bhundu Boys got their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/sep/17/worldmusic1">name</a> from young guerrillas who supported the liberation army that fought for Zimbabwean independence. Between 1981 and 1984 they had four number ones on the local hit parade.</p>
<p>Touring the UK in 1986, they became stars of a new <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/genre/international-ma0000002660">“World Music”</a> scene. The term had been dreamt up by DJs like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jun/29/popandrock1">Charlie Gillett</a> and the UK’s premier “indie” music magazine NME proclaimed October 1987 “World Music Month”, issuing a free cassette tape <a href="https://nmecassettes.wordpress.com/nme-035-the-world-at-one-1987/">“The World at One”</a>. </p>
<p>The Bhundus didn’t feature on this tape but they became stalwarts of a scene in the UK that included African stars like Nigerian <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/king-sunny-ade-mn0000771297/biography">Sunny Adé</a>, Zimbabwean <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/thomas-mapfumo-mn0000581262/biography">Thomas Mapfumo</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/youssou-ndour-mn0000692100">Youssou N'Dour</a> from Senegal. This “scene” lies on a continuum of Western consumption of African music from 1960s’ exotica to the contemporary trend for African reissue vinyl and its attendant <a href="https://strut.greedbag.com/buy/nigeria-70-the-definitive-lp-edi/">compilation culture</a>.</p>
<p>This continuum has been lying on the margins of Western music consumption since the early 1960s, when Herb Alpert’s <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Herb-Alpert-The-Tijuana-Brass-Sounds-LikeHerb-Alpert-The-Tijuana-Brass/release/398984">Tijuana Brass Sounds</a> brought (what was marketed as) the music of Mexico to urban American and the UK. Arguably the first of many Western producers/musicians to export sounds and rework them for a domestic market, exotica was an early example of the culture of listening to music from “somewhere else”. </p>
<p>As producers, musicians and labels have had more access to old vinyl and to new digital technology, the opportunities of reissues and compilations have proliferated. And so the sounds of <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/africa/ethiopia/articles/ethio-jazz-the-amazing-story-of-ethiopian-jazz-from-london-to-addis/">Ethiopian jazz</a>, of <a href="http://www.afropop.org/11366/essential-afro-funk-re-issues-and-compilations/">Nigeria in the 1970s</a> and of <a href="https://www.alliance-francaise.ca/en/culture/concerts/griots-mali-en">Mali’s Griot culture</a> have become staples in a reinvigorated “World Music” culture reliant on reissue and compilation. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/osNAy1DNkOQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Nigeria’s King Sunny Ade & His African Beats performing ‘Me Le Se’.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Addiction, compulsion, obscurity and desire pepper this continuum, which has, at its centre, discomforting tensions around neo-colonialism and control. A fascinating <a href="https://thevinylfactory.com/news/podcast-african-vinyl-21st-century-reissues/">podcast</a> by the radio programme <a href="http://www.afropop.org/">Afropop Worldwide</a> has suggested that the latest urge to buy up African vinyl and to compile generically and geographically determined compilations is yet one more (white) western scramble for Africa. Are reissue labels like <a href="http://www.strut-records.com/">Strut</a>, <a href="http://analogafrica.com/">Analog Africa</a> and <a href="http://luakabop.com/">Luaka Bop</a> guilty of such a scramble? Or does this story have a number of different plot lines, not all of them hitched to neo-colonial narratives?</p>
<h2>Space-disco musician</h2>
<p>The trend in reissues manifested for me in the face of Nigerian space-disco musician, <a href="http://luakabop.com/onyeabor/smoothngood">William Onyeabor</a>, which appeared on my Twitter timeline a couple of years ago. Everyone I followed was raving about him. I clicked, listened and downloaded. Then I saw a <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/54124-watch-the-william-onyeabor-documentary-fantastic-man-featuring-damon-albarn-and-caribou/">documentary</a> about him and wrote an <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15405702.2016.1193181">academic piece</a> that riffed off the idea of “raiders”. I linked the craze for Onyeabor to the phenomenon around the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125608/">“Searching for Sugarman”</a>, which focused on the “missing” 70s folk rocker, <a href="http://www.sugarman.org/">Sixto Rodriguez</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">William Onyeabor’s ‘Atomic Bomb’.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I ought to make a confession at this point. I was one of those that sought out African music in the 80s and 90s. I saw the continent’s greats, <a href="https://felakuti.bandcamp.com/">Fela Kuti</a>, N'Dour and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/salif-keita-mn0000832281">Salif Keita</a>. But I didn’t really obsess, didn’t really care about whether or not they were “authentic”. I just hated the hugely popular dance-pop duo <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/wham">Wham!</a>… </p>
<p>But I knew guys (and it always seems to be guys) who would listen to nothing else, who moved to Africa, who demanded the “real”. They would spent their days in London’s <a href="http://www.london-rip.com/places/london-record-shops-3">Sterns African record store</a>, crate digging for treasure, and searching for rare vinyl to find something new. That was then, and now the crate diggers are searching for new sounds that are old – reissues, undiscovered stars from the 70s, of whom Onyeabor was one, a “collector’s piece”. </p>
<p>Culture philosopher Walter Benjamin <a href="http://www.kollectiv.co.uk/Benjamin%20Collecting.html">argued</a> that collecting is about control. It is about creating (or even imposing) some kind of order on the world. And a collection is never finished. There’s always one more record. Crate digging, is part and parcel of a <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XzMrDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&ots=BIzlaFS4vV&sig=FgsmSW0fh8uMpoN4fHy4AyZn5oI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">compulsion</a> to collect shaped by addiction and compulsion, believes media studies academic <a href="https://www.victoria.ac.nz/seftms/about/staff/roy-shuker">Roy Shuker</a>. And it feeds into a DJ’s sub-cultural capital, whereby unknown African tracks bestow respect within a dance culture that has always fetishised obscurity and the <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=white%20label">“white label”</a> (rare records with white labels to conceal which records DJ were playing).</p>
<h2>Archaeologist of African vinyl</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26654516">Frank Gossner</a>, the “archaeologist of African vinyl” is one of the more well-known exponents of (West) African vinyl collectors, a German DJ literally digging through recent African cultural history. Like a determined archivist bent on rescuing vinyl before it decomposes in the West African humidity, he sources sounds that play well to western ears, raised on rare groove and funk.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Agboju Logun’, a Nigerian disco classic by Shina Williams recently reissued by Strut Records.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gossner, and those who run Strut and Luaka Bop, have <a href="https://thevinylfactory.com/news/podcast-african-vinyl-21st-century-reissues/">“no African ancestry or cultural connection to the continent” </a> beyond enthusiasm. And they furnish European and American ears with sounds that are both obscure and familiar; unknown names playing tunes that sound like 70s’ funk and 80s’ Fela. </p>
<p>This search for old/new sounds is based around a nostalgia culture that is endemic to Anglo-American popular music and which music critic and author <a href="http://blissout.blogspot.co.za/">Simon Reynolds</a> has called <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Retromania.html?id=8FI3dVT9t34C">“retromania”</a>. It is not mirrored by contemporary African music culture, where an investment in musical presents is valued over the preservation of musical pasts and old vinyl is simply chucked away only to be “salvaged” by these western record hunters. </p>
<p>In these salvage operations there have been stories of financial rip offs, musicians not being paid their dues and even rumours about one reissue label, PMG, being <a href="https://www.verygoodplus.co.uk/forum/let-s-talk/let-s-get-stuck-into-the-music/43277-pmg-records-reissues-brownshirts-and-a-deeply-troubling-update">affiliated</a> to the extreme right wing. But of course, there is not just one thread to this narrative, it is complex and multi-layered. This is echoed by <a href="http://www.afropop.org/10749/christopher-kirkley-interview/?platform=hootsuite">Christopher Kirkley</a> who runs <a href="http://sahelsounds.com/">Sahel Sounds</a>, a label dedicated to showcasing contemporary West African music – but Kirkley presents himself on Twitter as “Gentleman explorer, rogue ethnomusicologist”, harking back to colonial narratives.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184546/original/file-20170904-17971-1vb7l7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184546/original/file-20170904-17971-1vb7l7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184546/original/file-20170904-17971-1vb7l7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184546/original/file-20170904-17971-1vb7l7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184546/original/file-20170904-17971-1vb7l7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184546/original/file-20170904-17971-1vb7l7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184546/original/file-20170904-17971-1vb7l7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cover of ‘Witchdoctor’s Son’ by Okay Temiz and Johnny Dyani.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matsuli Music</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are labels out there that are championing new sounds, and selling good percentages of their output to Africans (South Africa’s <a href="http://matsuli.blogspot.co.za/">Matsuli Music</a> label for example). There are enterprises that showcase the dynamic West African Bluetooth file sharing and mix tape culture – Brian Shimkovitz’s <a href="http://www.awesometapes.com/">Awesome Tapes from Africa</a> is a good example. </p>
<p>One of these “awesome” tapes is <a href="https://atakak.bandcamp.com/album/obaa-sima">“Obaa Sima”</a> by Ghanaian musician <a href="http://www.factmag.com/2016/05/13/ata-kak-interview-awesome-tapes-from-africa/">Ata Kak</a> (real name Yaw Atta-Owusu), whom Shimkovitaz “tracked down”. His music is something that “no one in Ghana listens to any more”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3dwX45LEPyA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ata Kak’s ‘Obaa Sima’.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mediated like Onyeabor and “Sugarman”, an African/Black musician to be tracked down by (White) Europeans and Americans, Ata Kak becomes a curio. But when asked by <a href="http://www.factmag.com/">Factmag</a> if he was going to record any “new” music, his reply was,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s important for me to move forward. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>John Peel liked the freshness of The Bhundu Boys, they were contemporary. He didn’t live long enough to experience this recent race to the past in music, this tracking down of the undocumented curiosity, this search for music that sounds old but is new, this new colonialism. If he were alive now, he’d be playing Ata Kak’s new songs and moving things forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83458/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abigail Gardner receives funding from Erasmus + via The University of Gloucestershire for 2 projects on migration and diversity.</span></em></p>The search for old or new African sounds is based around a nostalgia culture that is endemic to Anglo-American popular music.Abigail Gardner, Reader in Music and Media, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/820292017-08-14T16:26:02Z2017-08-14T16:26:02ZConservation versus profit: South Africa’s ‘unique’ game offer a sobering lesson<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181647/original/file-20170810-27691-nmn95l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The price of rare coloured animals like the Golden Wildebeest have fluctuated wildly.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s wildlife is thriving. One of the reasons for this is that landowners can profit from animals living on their land. Wildlife can be hunted for meat and trophies as well as being used non-consumptively for ecotourism. Thousands of former cattle ranches are now profitable game farms, hunting reserves and ecotourism lodges making South Africa a conservation <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/2041-7136-2-18">success story.</a></p>
<p>But mixing profit and conservation is not simple. For example, a wildlife ranch generating profit from hunters must have animals that clients wish to hunt while a tourist lodge needs to stock species that are attractive and visible to those enjoying recreational game drives. Successful conservation requires a balanced, long-term approach but sometimes the goals of pursuing profit and long term conservation don’t always coincide.</p>
<p>One example of this is the market for “colour variants” - unusually coloured forms of particular species caused by rare mutations. Naturally occurring mutations causing colour variations happen <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004892">in many animals</a>. Rare colour variants of hunted African species have been known for a long time. They include black and white varieties of impala, golden wildebeest and pure white varieties of springbok. Trophy hunters seeking novelty might pay more to hunt these unusually coloured individuals. </p>
<p>The extraordinary spike, and then spectacular collapse, in the prices that these mutant colour forms sold for in the game auctions of South Africa over the past decade or so provides a timely reminder that profit does not always sit comfortably with conservation. Using resources on colour variant animals will divert from the conservation of other wildlife and can be detrimental.</p>
<h2>The history</h2>
<p>Over the past decade or so, colour variants of a number of species including wildebeest, impala, zebra, blesbok, gemsbok and springbok began to be intensively bred by some game farmers, ultimately for the trophy hunting market.</p>
<p>In 2012, these rare varieties were estimated to represent <a href="http://www.farmersweekly.co.za/bottomline/colour-variant-game-naturally-profitable/">only 1%</a> of game in the country. Scarcity and the thought that hunters would pay handsomely for novel trophies led to a confidence that there would be considerable future payoffs. As a result, prices escalated. Normal impala could be bought for <a href="http://www.farmersweekly.co.za/bottomline/colour-variant-game-naturally-profitable/">R1400</a>, whereas black impala fetched <a href="http://www.farmersweekly.co.za/bottomline/colour-variant-game-naturally-profitable/">R600 000</a>. These colour variants were not yet being hunted – owners were focused on breeding lines and increasing numbers.</p>
<p>But over the next 2 years things changed. By 2014 rare game accounted for <a href="http://www.farmersweekly.co.za/opinion/by-invitation/the-future-of-game-ranching/">16% of turnover</a> at game auctions with the average price for white impala rams reaching <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2017-01-26-colour-game-is-over/">R8.2million</a>. </p>
<p>As prices continued to rise, <a href="http://www.farmersweekly.co.za/agri-news/south-africa/colour-variant-game-prices-sour-amidst-controversy/">critics continued</a> to point out problems. Many believed it was putting profit before conservation. </p>
<p>They pointed out:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the dangers inherent in intensively breeding animals from limited genetic stock, leading to the problems associated with inbreeding, including reduced viability and fertility; </p></li>
<li><p>of offering captive bred animals to hunters, which many believe to be unethical and not “fair chase”;</p></li>
<li><p>of diverting resources from other conservation as game farms focus on colour variant animals to the detriment of other wildlife.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Despite naysayers, breeders bred and sold animals that commanded high prices throughout 2015. But talk of a bubble – when the price of an asset is based on past performance rather than actual value – was rife. Once potential buyers realise the asset is overvalued no one wants to buy it and prices collapse. </p>
<p>This is exactly what happened. At the beginning of 2016 prices started to fall and the devaluation continued spectacularly. Black impala rams now fetch perhaps <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2017-01-26-colour-game-is-over/">less than R10,000</a> (1.7% of 2012 price) and white impala have dropped to <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2017-01-26-colour-game-is-over/">R48,000</a> (0.5% of their 2014 peak value).</p>
<p>The problem seems to have been that demand didn’t exist on the scale imagined. Hunters were simply not enthused about adding these new colour variants to their trophy rooms. As a result, breeders were only selling to other breeders and to game farmers, many of whom went on to become breeders themselves, exacerbating <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2017-01-26-colour-game-is-over/">the problem</a>. </p>
<h2>The problem with the profit motive</h2>
<p>As one bubble bursts another seems to be inflating rapidly.</p>
<p>Advertisements for unusual colour variant game can still be seen in game ranching publications. But more apparent in the last two years have been captive-bred buffalo, sable and roan. They are normally coloured, but many have massive horns, a trait that is being bred for, and made even larger, by specialised game breeders. These animals are now regarded as the “fashionable” high-value game species and, as with colour variants, their prices are soaring. A buffalo bull went under the hammer for <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2017-01-26-colour-game-is-over/">R168 million</a> in 2016. </p>
<p>Inflated prices and controversy over hunting – especially following the killing of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34116488">Cecil of Lion in Zimbabwe</a> – make “greedy” wildlife ranchers obvious targets for those who oppose the use of wildlife for hunting. </p>
<p>But the profit-conservation balance isn’t necessarily any better in non-consumptive models. For example, baiting popular dive sites for sharks, crowding waterholes with cars or pushing boats closer to bird colonies are but a few of the sharp ecotourism practices driven mainly by greed. </p>
<h2>The system works, for now</h2>
<p>For all the <a href="http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347(15)00246-3">faults of ecotourism</a> and wildlife ranching in South Africa, the truth is that allowing wildlife to pay its way does appear, at the moment, <a href="http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347(15)00274-8">to be working for conservation</a>. </p>
<p>Conservation necessarily involves money and finding ways for humans and wildlife to live together. In many places, making money from wildlife through hunting and tourism satisfies both needs. </p>
<p>But it seems inevitable that some practitioners of “it pays it stays” will attempt to make wildlife pay more than its rent. The colour variant bubble is perhaps a timely lesson that models to conserve nature must also account for the greed in human nature.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82029/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Hart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rare colour variants of hunted African species have been known for a long time. Trophy hunters seeking novelty might pay more to hunt these unusually coloured animals.Adam Hart, Professor of Science Communication, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/356932015-01-05T15:20:09Z2015-01-05T15:20:09ZWhy 2015 is gearing up to be the year of censorship<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67971/original/image-20141223-18378-170htcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">See no evil, speak no evil is next year's Keep Calm and Carry On.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kradlum/2497522292/in/photolist-6N6xXQ-adYU9M-9FPogR-8Yke2Z-7dSX7y-58nmCZ-J1xbo-5tarRv-a8xnrF-3mdr4U-7Y3X7N-2Za4k-4NGsnb-4Cb7Ca-fSsFdj-55HPvG-5APQts-HHgSt-4gYm4-jZb2d-kjX5qC-7j3o6L-4dK2yv-3TsiBN-c5xYeG-9rGpdT-7tdgcR-99UnZZ-9PJ4Q5-a3GuAm-61j6hF-ng5zF9-diGUvG-BM4DM-a2eopv-85AG1w-8Wou1Y-z7Nxg-asnui-3veBk-5ajPtW-3Fr4hi-533muD-7kLHpv-34CiYa-48JDgq-JWYxM-JvBZX-6Vi9SZ-6y52zD">Julian Tysoe</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>India’s government has displeased many internet users by <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Pastebin-Dailymotion-Github-blocked-after-DoT-order-Report/articleshow/45701713.cms">blocking access</a> to some major websites at the start of the new year. A total of 32 sites were blocked, although sanctions have been <a href="http://thenextweb.com/in/2015/01/02/india-lifts-blocks-github-vimeo-dailymotion-weebly-others-remain-banned/">lifted</a> from the three most famous sites on the list: software development platform GitHub and video sites Vimeo and Dailymotion.</p>
<p>The decision to block the sites was reportedly over concerns that they were hosting content by terrorist groups. For many Westerners, <a href="http://www.speakerscornertrust.org/library/about-free-speech/free-speech-and-democracy/">democracy and free speech are inextricably connected</a>, so the idea of curtailing freedom of expression in the interests of political stability seems illiberal and even totalitarian. But India is not alone in feeling the need to take some action. Some initial battles took place last year, but it looks as if 2015 will really be the year in which internet censorship will become a war.</p>
<p>British prime minister, David Cameron, and other Western leaders have been forced to confront a difficult issue in 2014, as Islamic State showed how deftly it could appropriate social media networks to spread its jihadi manifesto. What happens when terrorists commandeer global media networks and use them to disseminate propaganda aimed at undermining democratic, secular governance?</p>
<p>The response from politicians has been to lean heavily on internet service providers, making them do more to remove jihadi material. This approach is regarded as unjustifiable censorship by critics, including the <a href="http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2014/08/james-foley-isis-media-blackout-twitter-met-police/">Index on Censorship</a>, which has argued for the right of people to decide for themselves whether they view such content.</p>
<h2>Corporate censorship</h2>
<p>For their part, social media companies such as Twitter have been taking down accounts linked to IS, even though <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/islamic-state-isis-fanatics-threaten-terrorist-attacks-on-twitter-employees-for-shutting-accounts-down-9722845.html">employees have been threatened with death for doing so</a>. And YouTube has been working hard to remove jihadi material that glorifies violence.</p>
<p>But if you’re determined to find a video of an IS beheading, you will find one. One student casually remarked to me during a recent lecture that he’d watched a beheading video only a few nights earlier, in rather the same way as if he might have mentioned that he’d caught up on an episode of The Simpsons.</p>
<p>There are some who passionately believe that such videos should remain accessible. The Index on Censorship argues that allowing governments or media corporations to decide who watches what is the start of a process that leads, ultimately, to the <a href="http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2014/08/james-foley-isis-media-blackout-twitter-met-police/">muzzling of dissent and difference</a>.</p>
<p>Those who believe this content shouldn’t be viewed can urge others not to watch it, as Twitter users did in August with the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ISISmediaBlackout?src=hash">#ISISmediablackout</a> hashtag. Still, while one or more people can choose not to look, the content will still be available unless politicians take action. And as Cameron ponders just how he should do that in 2015 without triggering accusations of censorship, he could consider a lesson in recent British history.</p>
<h2>The oxygen of publicity</h2>
<p>The British government formally ended a high-profile dalliance with censorship 20 years ago when it lifted restrictions on how the media could report the Troubles in Northern Ireland. From 1988 to 1994, broadcasters were banned from airing the words spoken directly by the Irish Republican party, Sinn Fein, and by specified paramilitary organisations. </p>
<p>As it turned out, broadcasters could use actors and reported speech to convey the content of such organisations. Interviews with Sinn Fein’s leader Gerry Adams were televised and his exact words broadcast, just with the voice of an actor dubbed over the top.</p>
<p>This all prompted questions about just how the law was depriving Sinn Fein and other organisations of what Margaret Thatcher termed the “oxygen of publicity”.</p>
<p>Since then, the digital revolution has transformed the media, enabling terrorists to reach new audiences. By setting up a social media account, jihadis can immediately give themselves a voice with a reach that is potentially global. As a result the UK government is now engaged in a similar battle to that which took place during the Troubles, but the goalposts have been significantly widened.</p>
<p>Last month, Cameron announced he wants companies to be <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30041923">more proactive</a> in taking down “harmful material”. He also called for stronger filters and an on-screen button to report jihadi material.</p>
<p>Talk of filters induces queasiness in the anti-censorship lobby – and for good reason. Censorship of the web is regularly used by repressive regimes to retain control over what is said online. But the trouble for those who oppose such restrictions is that a traditional argument against censorship has been undermined – arguably by Twitter more than any other organisation.</p>
<p>Social media often means that debate is conducted via short statements that contain emotional responses. Abbreviated words, images and hashtags often replace reasoned discourse. Almost by design, Twitter is not conducive to the sort of patient argument needed to express a controversial opinion and justify it to your critics. </p>
<p>So world leaders have started running out of options. The indicators are that they won’t leave it to chance this year and that censorship will continue to be deployed through a combination of government and corporate activity. What started in a panic in 2014, will become something altogether more structured and powerful in the 12 months to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35693/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Bradshaw does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>India’s government has displeased many internet users by blocking access to some major websites at the start of the new year. A total of 32 sites were blocked, although sanctions have been lifted from…Tom Bradshaw, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/285342014-06-27T05:12:53Z2014-06-27T05:12:53ZIf David Cameron can risk contempt of court twice, why shouldn’t the rest of us?<p>When a person is rebuked by a judge twice in the space of half a year, the public could be excused for thinking ill of them. But when that person is the prime minister, it raises questions not only about his judgement but about the relationship between the government, the judiciary, and the rule of law.</p>
<p>In England and Wales, contempt of court is a criminal offence, punishable by up to two years behind bars – and yet Cameron has skirted the edge of this criminal behaviour more than once.</p>
<p>In recent months, he has twice been chastised by judges for potentially endangering the smooth functioning of justice. In both instances, he made remarks about individuals involved in live court cases, thereby potentially influencing jurors’ attitudes.</p>
<h2>Twice burned</h2>
<p>Back in December 2013, during the trial of two former assistants of celebrity cook Nigella Lawson who were accused of fraud, judge Robin Johnson <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25350419">told the jury that it was a “matter of regret”</a> that Cameron had told The Spectator that he was a “massive fan” of Ms Lawson. Cameron, he said, had made remarks that could be construed as being “favourable to Ms Lawson”.</p>
<p>And after the phone hacking verdicts came out, Cameron <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27998411">commented on the conviction of his former communications chief Andy Coulson</a> – despite the fact that whereas Rebekah and Charlie Brooks had been <a href="https://theconversation.com/hacking-trial-brooks-cleared-coulson-guilty-on-one-charge-27938">cleared of all charges against them</a>, the jury was still considering two other charges against Coulson and Clive Goodman of misconduct in public office.</p>
<p>The trial judge, Mr Justice Saunders, was not impressed. He <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28014035">deemed Mr Cameron’s remarks</a> “unsatisfactory so far as justice and the rule of law are concerned” and castigated him for providing a poor example to the media.</p>
<p>Saunders might not be the only one left fuming. With total costs close to £100 million, the trial is in Saunders’ estimation <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/25/phonr-hacking-trial-legal-costs-rebekah-brooks">possibly the most expensive in British legal history</a>. The Crown Prosecution Service and police’s bills alone have been put at more than £33 million – all funded by the taxpayer.</p>
<p>If the judge had gone a step further and decided that Cameron’s remarks had prevented the jury reaching an unbiased verdict, then we would have had the bizarre situation of the prime minister causing the collapse of the most expensive trial in his country’s history.</p>
<h2>Courting disaster</h2>
<p>Broadly, somebody or something is in contempt of court if it impedes the administration of justice. <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/49">The Contempt of Court Act 1981</a> states that a published statement is in contempt if it creates a “substantial risk of serious prejudice” to the outcome of a case.</p>
<p>Normally, it is the media that has to worry about whether it’s in contempt. And in the post-Leveson climate, the government has been at pains to make sure the press is responsible, ethical and indeed law-abiding in its coverage – all of which makes Cameron’s remarks odder still.</p>
<p>And highly paradoxical, since he should have access to the best legal advice in the land when it comes to contempt issues. The attorney general, who decides whether to launch contempt proceedings, is himself effectively appointed by the prime minister and advises the government on legal matters. To confuse the issue further, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28014035">a Downing Street spokesman said</a> the prime minister had in fact taken “the best legal advice before issuing his (Coulson) apology”.</p>
<p>So, we have a situation where it seems the prime minister took the advice of the attorney general on a contempt issue, only for the trial judge to then suggest that the prime minister’s remarks were still close to being in contempt. The executive is thinking one thing, and the judiciary quite another.</p>
<h2>Bad advice</h2>
<p>The irony is that the attorney general’s office launched an initiative in December to educate the public about <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/attorney-general-to-warn-facebook-and-twitter-users-about-contempt-of-court">the dangers of making legally prejudicial statements</a>. Dominic Grieve announced that advisory notes flagging up legal cases which could give rise to prejudicial statements would be published on Twitter, the aim being to reduce the chances that users of social media could commit contempt. Previously, the notices had only been sent to media outlets.</p>
<p>In another irony, Grieve made that announcement just eight days before Cameron was admonished by the judge in the Nigella Lawson case.</p>
<p>Given that the Attorney General is appointed by the monarch on the prime minister’s recommendation, is it ever realistic that a prime minister would have contempt proceedings brought against him, even for a flagrant breach? The prime minister and the attorney general in any given administration are colleagues and invariably allies. </p>
<p>What with both this constitutional arrangement and the events of the past six months, the current prime minister is in serious danger of appearing to put himself above the law.</p>
<p>Educating a smartphone-wielding public on the dangers of a careless tweet is one thing. But it’s vitally important that the attorney general and the prime minister make sure that the government’s (and specifically the PM’s) own remarks on legal proceedings are beyond reproach. </p>
<p>For if the prime minister can make legally questionable remarks and just about get away with it every time, why shouldn’t newspaper editors – or indeed you and I – chance our arm?</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Next, read: <a href="https://theconversation.com/hacking-trial-was-just-round-one-in-the-fight-to-rescue-journalism-28354">Hacking trial was just round one in the fight to rescue journalism</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28534/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Bradshaw does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When a person is rebuked by a judge twice in the space of half a year, the public could be excused for thinking ill of them. But when that person is the prime minister, it raises questions not only about…Tom Bradshaw, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/282372014-06-23T05:04:40Z2014-06-23T05:04:40ZDespite the lush summer leaves, our trees are under attack<p>Looking at the countryside now in the middle of summer, it is hard to believe that trees are under threat from an array of diseases and pests. Warm and wet conditions with plenty of sunshine have led to an verdant explosion of plant growth. After news of the spread of ash dieback across the UK many people may be surprised to see ash trees in Britain coming into leaf at all, but tree diseases are not necessarily as quick as media hyperbole might suggest. It can take years for a mature tree to succumb to disease, but once the pathogenic fungus, bacteria or virus takes hold then while the end may be slow, it’s also virtually inevitable.</p>
<p>At the recent Cheltenham Science Festival, I was joined by three leading UK experts in tree disease: <a href="http://www.abdn.ac.uk/environment-food-security/people/s.woodward">Professor Steve Woodward</a> from the University of Aberdeen, <a href="http://www.hutton.ac.uk/staff/ruth-mitchell">Dr Ruth Mitchell</a> from the James Hutton Institute and <a href="http://www.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/staff/richardbuggs.html">Dr Richard Buggs</a> from Queen Mary University of London. Ash dieback was at the forefront of the audience’s concerns, with many reporting seemingly healthy ash trees in their back gardens. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/ashdieback">Ash dieback</a> is a suite of disease symptoms caused by a fungus, and trying to piece together the life cycle, history and ecology of this fungus has not been easy. As Steve Woodward explained: “What we now know is that the fungus causing ash dieback jumped species to infect European ash. It occurs naturally in a species of ash native to Asia where, like a similar fungus in European ash, it causes no problems. The global trade in trees and greater planting of ornamental and commercial species (ash counts as both) with little regard for quarantine probably helped bring these species together, allowing the fungus to infect European ash.”</p>
<p>As is common in cases where species move to new hosts, the new host had no defences against the fungus. It spread rapidly across Europe to the UK, killing most of the ash trees it infected. The situation is so bad in Northern Europe that trees with some natural tolerance to the fungus – a great example of natural selection in action – are rare enough to become known as individuals, for example <a href="http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/research-technologies/2013/130617-pr-genome-sequence-for-ash-dieback.aspx">Tree 35 in Denmark</a>. </p>
<p>But is this a big problem for the UK: are ash trees an important component of our biodiversity? I put the question to Ruth Mitchell, who was clear on the wider implications of ash dieback. “Losing ash trees will really matter. It is one of our most common trees and there are at least 45 species such as moths, beetles and butterflies that only use ash, another 62 species that predominately use them, and a total of nearly 1,000 species that can be found using ash. That is a lot of species directly affected, and many more will be indirectly affected through various complex interactions.” </p>
<p>Worryingly, it’s only since ash dieback hit Britain that this research has got underway, and the species associated with other trees are only poorly known.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51794/original/tkdsh59j-1403280338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51794/original/tkdsh59j-1403280338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51794/original/tkdsh59j-1403280338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51794/original/tkdsh59j-1403280338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51794/original/tkdsh59j-1403280338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51794/original/tkdsh59j-1403280338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51794/original/tkdsh59j-1403280338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The emerald ash borer, among the more glamorous of tree pests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emerald_ash_borer_3_-_Flickr_-_USDAgov.jpg">USDA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ash dieback may be the current pin-up of the tree disease world, but there are plenty of other diseases threatening our trees. <a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestresearch.nsf/ByUnique/INFD-7UL9NQ">Acute oak decline</a>, <a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/chestnutblight">chestnut blight</a> and various <a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/phytophthora">Phytophthora fungi</a> responsible for brown rot are among the microorganisms causing disease. There are also <a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/asianlonghornbeetle">Asian longhorn beetles</a>, <a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestresearch.nsf/ByUnique/INFD-68JJRC">horse chestnut leaf miner</a> and <a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/oakprocessionarymoth">oak processionary moth</a> to contend with in terms of insects causing problems. Ash doesn’t escape insect pests either, with the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24612322">Emerald Ash Borer</a> spreading west from Russia.</p>
<p>With so many threats either already here or on the horizon, is there anything we can do? As Richard Buggs explained: “It is probably already too late for ash in the UK but we can use genetic research to develop a strong genetically-diverse base of tolerant trees to re-plant Britain in the future.” The answers to tree disease aren’t just in the science. “There is a huge movement of plants across the world, and when plants move you also move diseases, pests and goodness knows what else living in the soil they’re transported in. We need better biosecurity controls over this movement,” says Steve Woodward. </p>
<p>The overwhelming conclusion of the panel was one that will be familiar to ecologists everywhere: the situation is complicated and we don’t know anywhere near enough about the diseases or their implications. One thing is clear though. We shouldn’t let the relatively slow pace of tree diseases (which take years rather than weeks to take hold) dictate our research efforts to combat them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28237/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Hart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Looking at the countryside now in the middle of summer, it is hard to believe that trees are under threat from an array of diseases and pests. Warm and wet conditions with plenty of sunshine have led to…Adam Hart, Professor of Science Communication, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/276642014-06-06T05:16:51Z2014-06-06T05:16:51ZTeachers remain divided on performance-related pay<p>A new survey has found teachers remain divided over proposals to link their pay increases to the performance of pupils in their class. A small majority – 53% of 1,163 primary and secondary school teachers polled – supports the idea. </p>
<p>The government is extending performance related pay to teachers in the first five years of their career from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-advice-to-help-schools-set-performance-related-pay">September 2014</a>. Similar steps were brought in by the Labour government for more senior teachers in 2000. </p>
<p>It will be up to each school to make a decision on how to set its pay arrangements, which can be linked to pupil’s progress, classroom behaviour and a teacher’s wider contribution to the school. </p>
<p>The new poll was commissioned by the Sutton Trust from the National Foundation for Educational Research as part of its <a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/what-we-offer/teacher-voice/">Teacher Voice</a> omnibus survey in March 2014. </p>
<p>The Sutton Trust said the results showed “just over half of teachers” backed payment by results. “It suggests that there is a beginning of a cultural change there,” said Conor Ryan, research and communications director at the Sutton Trust. He added the results show the <a href="http://www.teachers.org.uk/edufacts/performance-related-pay-in-schools">opposition to performance-related pay by teaching unions</a> may not reflect the views of all teachers.</p>
<h2>Where responsibility lies</h2>
<p>When questioned, 53% of teachers agreed that the progress and results of the pupils they teach should be used to decide progression along a pay scale. For primary school teachers, 55% were in favour, compared to 52% of secondary school teachers. </p>
<p>These responses were only marginally higher than those teachers who favoured the current system – payment based on length of service, as long as a teacher’s progress is satisfactory. Of the teachers surveyed, 47% were in favour of this status quo – again slightly higher for primary school teachers (49%) than for secondary school teachers (44%). </p>
<p>Overall, 54% of the teachers polled were in favour of allowing assessments by headteachers to determine their pay progression. But primary school teachers seemed to have more faith in their heads than secondary school teachers, with 71% in favour of this proposal, compared to 36% for secondary teachers. </p>
<p>If assessment is to be done by more senior members of staff such as line managers, 60% of teachers were in favour. But Ofsted inspectors were the clear losers. Only 9% of teachers thought Ofsted grading of lessons should be taken into account in their pay.</p>
<p>Howard Stevenson, professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Nottingham, said, “Despite all the efforts that have been put into imposing payment by results, this survey highlights high levels of scepticism within the profession regarding these developments.” But he questioned the survey’s design for not asking a simple, more direct question on whether teachers support performance-related pay. </p>
<p>“The drive to embed performance-related pay will intensify as those who sponsor a more market-based approach to schooling use their influence to push policy further in this direction,” he said. “This is the experience in many parts of the United States, which English education policy increasingly replicates.”</p>
<p>He said it is not yet clear how teachers will respond to the changes. “One function of performance-related pay is to increase managerial authority and to create a more divided, and hence compliant, workforce. However, it may be that as pay inequalities widen, both within schools and between schools, then new tensions emerge, and cannot be contained.”</p>
<p>“Under such circumstances new types of school-based pay disputes will become much more likely as teacher unions are forced to respond to the grievances of their members.”</p>
<p>There have been a series of other polls in recent months of teacher’s attitudes to the pay changes. A <a href="http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/category/item/teachers-could-back-performance-related-pay">2013 survey by the centre-right Policy Exchange think tank</a> of 1,002 teachers reported that nine out of ten teachers agreed “quality of teaching” should drive pay and progression. </p>
<p>The National Union of Teachers’ own YouGov survey, of 826 teachers, <a href="http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/20172">reported that 81% of teachers</a> did not think performance related-pay would improve children’s education outcomes. </p>
<p>Tom Curran, research fellow at the University of Gloucestershire, said the Sutton Trust survey results do seem to show a slight preference amongst teachers for performance-related pay. </p>
<p>“I would think this has to do with the ownership that performance-related pay offers to teachers, leading them to believe that their pay is equitable to their effort and thereby, to a large extent, within their control,” he said.</p>
<p>Curran said those in favour of payment by results believe it will “catalyse ever increasing teacher effort to continually improve student outcomes.” Those against argue that student outcomes are not linear and can be unpredictable. “When things go wrong there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/performance-related-pay-wont-motivate-teachers-25775">no motivation</a> to sustain effort (because rewards are not forthcoming) – and <a href="http://www.rug.nl/gmw/psychology/research/onderzoek_summerschool/firststep/content/papers/4.4.pdf">much evidence attests</a> to this ‘demotivating’ effect.”</p>
<h2>Wider debates about teacher quality</h2>
<p>In a 2010 analysis of its Programme for International Student Assessment tests, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisainfocus/50328990.pdf">attempted to analysis whether performance-related pay</a> had an impact on student performance. It found “a look at the overall picture reveals no relationship between average student performance in a country and the use of performance-based pay schemes”.</p>
<p>Questions on how teachers should be renumerated feed into wider debates on where blame lies for poor schools. This debate on teacher quality is <a href="https://theconversation.com/moving-quality-teachers-between-schools-will-not-help-disadvantaged-children-23541">particularly pertinent in the United States</a>, where moves to make it easier to fire poor teachers are facing legal hurdles. </p>
<p>A 2010 <a href="https://docs.gatesfoundation.org/documents/empowering-effective-teachers-readiness-for-reform.pdf">report by the Gates Foundation</a>, cited by the UK government as evidence backing its own reforms, found that teacher effectiveness has more impact on student learning than any other factor under control of the school system. Another <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/news/news/improving-poor-teachers-would-transform-englands-education/">2011 report</a> by the Sutton Trust found that the difference between having a good or bad teacher can be up to one year’s worth of education for poorer pupils. </p>
<p>However, educational experts such as Finland’s Pasi Sahlberg, visiting professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education, point to <a href="http://www.cedr.us/publications_effectiveness.html">work done by University of Washington economist Dan Goldhaber</a> that show teacher quality is only part of the picture.</p>
<p>Goldhaber found that while teaching is still the most important school-based factor affecting student performance, around 60% of variation in student outcomes is down to student’s own characteristics and their family. All school-based input, including teacher quality, accounts for approximately 21% of student outcomes. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A new survey has found teachers remain divided over proposals to link their pay increases to the performance of pupils in their class. A small majority – 53% of 1,163 primary and secondary school teachers…Gemma Ware, Head of AudioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/257752014-04-23T11:33:08Z2014-04-23T11:33:08ZPerformance-related pay won’t motivate teachers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46825/original/y23sr3q9-1398166206.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Govebusters vs teacher pay reforms. Who will win?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rui Vieira/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This Easter Monday, members of the National Union of Teachers <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27100733">voted in favour</a> of a motion for strike action this summer. The threat of industrial action reflects <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-the-tables-turning-in-michael-goves-war-on-teacher-unions-25417">an ever deepening rift</a> between teachers and Michael Gove, the secretary of state for education, against a backdrop of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/what-is-it-about-michael-gove-that-makes-people-hate-him-so-much-7628063.html">unpopular reforms</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26008962">name calling</a>. </p>
<p>Among the most ostracised of these reforms is the dismantling of traditional experience-to-salary structures – to be replaced with performance-related-pay. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-advice-to-help-schools-set-performance-related-pay">Guidance</a> on the changes was introduced in September 2013, with the first pay rises based on performance starting in September 2014. In defence of his reform, Gove argues a link between performance and pay will “<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9799356/Michael-Gove-to-confirm-plans-for-performance-related-pay-in-schools.html">make teaching a more attractive career and a more rewarding job</a>.”</p>
<p>Yet Gove, perhaps because he is an avid free marketeer, misses the point. Teachers are not bankers or stockbrokers (or Times editors). They are not seduced by the carrot of ever-increasing financial gain. </p>
<p>Financial gain, on its own, is a self-centred motivator and serves no purpose beyond the temporary gratification that money confers. Teaching, on the other hand, is a mutually rewarding occupation that serves the ongoing interests of both teachers and their students. By imposing economic sanctions on this precious relationship, we corrode the very meaning of teaching itself.</p>
<h2>A bad idea</h2>
<p>To understand why this is the case, it is important to understand how humans are motivated. We engage in certain activities not only for their tangible outcomes, but also for their implicit satisfaction. Harry Harlow, a primitive psychologist, <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/xge/40/2/228/">demonstrated</a> this over half a century ago when he observed that the satisfaction monkeys derived from mastering a maze task was so strong that they would even forgo food to do so. </p>
<p>This is where neoliberal ideology and human motivation begin to conflict. Motivation is not a commodity to be traded for the highest price. It originates from within and necessarily antagonises with any outside influence. Just ask teachers why they teach, they will tell you that they value the benefits and personal satisfaction that the job confers – it isn’t all about the money.</p>
<p>This, intrinsic motivation, is particularly important for teachers. It’s the motivational force that <a href="http://intrinsicmotivation.net/SDT/documents/2005_IsenReeve_MO.pdf">sustains their enjoyment</a> in the face of external pressure and underpins their <a href="http://www.ww.selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2008_Grant_JAP_ProsocialMotivation.pdf">extra-curricular</a> support for students. More than this, though, intrinsic motivation gives teachers impetus to engage in energetic and creative thought processes that enhance the quality of their teaching provision. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46826/original/p5qndhpr-1398166426.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46826/original/p5qndhpr-1398166426.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46826/original/p5qndhpr-1398166426.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46826/original/p5qndhpr-1398166426.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46826/original/p5qndhpr-1398166426.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46826/original/p5qndhpr-1398166426.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46826/original/p5qndhpr-1398166426.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It won’t work on teachers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">nist6dh</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Research from other professions shows us that teachers who teach from a place of personal satisfaction are likely to be <a href="http://www.ww.selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2007_OtisPelletier_JASP.pdf">healthier</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb02065.x/abstract">more satisfied, less inclined to burnout</a> and, importantly, <a href="http://m.selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2004_BaardDeciRyan.pdf">perform better</a> than those who do not. Why, then, would we want to discourage teachers from harnessing their own motivational resources? </p>
<p>This is the most pernicious of Gove’s criticisms. He assumes that when self-interest is propelled upon people it would act in the same way markets do – by motivating. Yet, inconveniently, contemporary research supports the seminal work of Harlow and suggests that this ideology is only correct when <a href="http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wp/wp2005/wp0511.pdf">tasks require little cognition</a>, or <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/50328990.pdf">are poorly paid in the first place</a>. </p>
<p>When tasks require more than a small degree of cognitive activation, and pay is perceived as equitable relative to living costs, rewards are in fact demotivating. In a <a href="http://www.rug.nl/gmw/psychology/research/onderzoek_summerschool/firststep/content/papers/4.4.pdf">synthesis</a> of 128 controlled experiments, consistent negative effects of rewards were reported on intrinsic motivation. These observations may not be intuitive to a society inculcated by economic discourse, but are in line with modern approaches to motivation which emphasise the salutogenic role of self-determination.</p>
<h2>Impacts on students</h2>
<p>And it isn’t only teachers that are harmed by performance-related pay. Children’s learning and development in school may also suffer.</p>
<p>It is well documented that when teachers feel pressured to produce certain outcomes the reaction is, typically, to pass along that pressure to their students in the form of control – to elicit short-term achievement. This may seem a somewhat controversial hypothesis, but it is supported by <a href="http://www.selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2002_PelletierLevesqueLegault_JESP.pdf">evidence</a>. </p>
<p>Worryingly, there is also evidence to suggest children’s learning is not helped by teaching practises that emphasise pressure to achieve. In an exemplary American <a href="http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/1984_BenwareDeci.pdf">study</a>, researchers had college students study science material with either the aim of teaching it to somebody else or with the expectation of being tested on it. Results revealed that those who learnt the material to teach, relative to those who learnt to take a test, demonstrated higher creative thought and better conceptual learning. </p>
<p>Yet it isn’t only children’s learning strategies that are undermined by pressure – their tendency to engage in school work is also weakened. Researchers in Israel, for instance, <a href="http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2002_AssorKaplanRoth_BJEP.pdf">found</a> that pressuring behaviours by teachers made children less likely to persist with a task in the face of adversity. Hence, pressure is a double edged sword that instigates short-term effort at the expense of perseverance.</p>
<p>Now, here’s the rub: attempting to commoditise motivation treads a dangerous path. It replaces the high-quality intrinsic motivation that teachers bring to the classroom with poorer quality extrinsic motives that, as we have seen, create conflict and pressure. </p>
<p>In this way, performance related pay for otherwise intrinsically motivated occupations, such as teaching, is an unnecessary and counterproductive initiative. It gambles on the utility of self-interest for improving standards, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary. This isn’t a liberal conspiracy, Mr Gove, its a simple case of the evidence disagreeing with your deep-set ideology.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25775/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Curran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This Easter Monday, members of the National Union of Teachers voted in favour of a motion for strike action this summer. The threat of industrial action reflects an ever deepening rift between teachers…Thomas Curran, Research Fellow in Sport, Exercise and Well-Being, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/238622014-03-03T11:58:59Z2014-03-03T11:58:59ZExplainer: what are tidal bores?<p>Surfers and spectators <a href="http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/star-Severn-bore-sweeps-Gloucestershire/story-20738035-detail/story.html">gathered along the Severn Bore</a> in Gloucestershire, England, in recent days to take advantage of the tidal wave that swept upstream. What’s known as a tidal bore – a wave of up to 2.8 metres – came in from the Atlantic on Sunday and a five-star bore (the largest waves that occur) coursed up the river on Monday morning. </p>
<p>Tidal bores are one of the most famous tidal effects where rising water from the ocean creates tidal waves which wash inland, up rivers. They take place on the Amazon and the Qiantang River in Southeast China, where the event is held to be sacred and marked by temples and large crowds. On the Severn Estuary in Southwest England the all-important sea level can rise and fall as much as 14 metres in the space of 12 hours. That’s the height of three double decker buses.</p>
<p>All around the world the sea level rises and falls every day with the tides. They vary from month to month, season to season and place to place. In the Mediterranean the tides are small. Along parts of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts their rise and fall can be extreme.</p>
<h2>Pull of the moon</h2>
<p>Tides are caused by the combining gravitational pull of the sun and the moon in relation to forces created by the spin of the earth. The gravity of the moon pulls at the earths surface, as water is “loose” it moves in response. Sometimes the gravitational pull of the sun (which is weaker on the earth as the sun is so far away) counteracts that of the moon and tides are lower. Sometimes the pull of moon and sun are in line (at new and full moon) and the highest, spring tides occur. </p>
<p>Before gravity was understood the tides were a great mystery to science and religion. The 8th Century British scholar and theologian, The Venerable Bede, wrote that the tides were somehow created by the breath of the moon. This is because the complex rhythm of the tides broadly follows the rhythm of the waxing and waning moon.</p>
<p>The Severn Estuary has the second highest tides in the world – after the Bay of Fundy in Canada – and the highest in Europe. The estuary is basically funnel shaped, going from west to east. This means that, as the Atlantic tide rises, a vast volume of water gets pushed up the estuary and, as the channel narrows, the depth of the river changes rapidly too into the lower reaches of the Severn River. As a result, the advancing top level of the water picks up speed and becomes a fully-fledged tidal wave followed by a surge of water.</p>
<p>On certain days of the year very high tides occur and these lead to what are called four or even five star bores – the biggest and most spectacular. The tidal wave gathers speed and height and crashes up the river channel making the Severn <a href="http://saveoursevern.org/">“the river that sometimes flows backward”</a>. </p>
<p>The record rainfall this winter threatened to hinder the height of the bore, which gains height from the river being shallow. But the river levels were able to drop back down as the rain subsided over the last couple of weeks, allowing for better bore forming over the weekend.</p>
<h2>Gathering spectacle</h2>
<p>Crowds gather to watch, websites show the best viewing areas and surfers and kayak canoeists come to ride the waves, adding to the drama and spectacle. The <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/4899262.stm">world record</a> for the longest distance travelled in one go on a surfboard has been held on the Severn Bore by surfer Steve King. He rode the wave for a one hour and 16 minutes, travelling more than seven miles upstream.</p>
<p>Because of the way they are created the tides don’t fit our normal day-night sequence in a simple way. High tides, and low tides – they always follow each other – can take place at any time, throughout the day or night. So they bring distinctive and special senses of time and rhythms to the places they affect. Both nature (such as wading birds) and society (sailors, farmers, fisher folk, walkers) must plan their day not by the clock of the sun, but by the clock of the moon.</p>
<p>Their unique timetable and the spectacular nature of tidal landscapes and phenomena such as the bore has been the inspiration for many artists and writers over the years. But tidal landscapes, despite being culturally and ecologically rich and unique, are under severe pressure nationally and internationally. Development, flood defences and land reclamation are serving to alter the often desolate and lonely – but very beautiful – landscapes of tidal areas. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23862/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Owain Jones receives funding from NWO-HARC for research on tidal landscapes including the Severn Estuary.</span></em></p>Surfers and spectators gathered along the Severn Bore in Gloucestershire, England, in recent days to take advantage of the tidal wave that swept upstream. What’s known as a tidal bore – a wave of up to…Owain Jones, Reader in Cultural Geography, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/234952014-02-28T13:14:29Z2014-02-28T13:14:29ZPunishing students with exercise is reckless political posturing<p>The London Olympics. Remember them? Not so long ago we were talking about their legacy, hoping it would inspire a new physically active generation. A timely legacy, given children in the UK are among the <a href="http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc7_eng.pdf">unhealthiest</a> in the world. </p>
<p>Fast-forward 18 months, and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/277894/Behaviour_and_Discipline_in_Schools_-a_guide_for_headteachers_and_school_staff.pdf">new official guidance</a> from the department of education is advising teachers to use physical activity as punishment. In an apparent return to Tom Brown’s School Days, it is now being encouraged to discipline misbehaviour with forced exercise.</p>
<p>Rationalising his position, Michael Gove, secretary of state for education, has urged teachers to get tough in an attempt to reconnect with traditional values. Tough punishments are, he argues, “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/feb/02/michael-gove-traditional-punishments-school-misbehaviour">just as crucial to an effective education as praising and rewarding good behaviour</a>”. </p>
<p>By assuming rewards and punishments work, such sentiments betray the real origin of these guidelines that are staunchly grounded in the ideology of self-interest. In treading this path, Gove eschews so-called “trendy”, student-centred approaches and, in an all too familiar fashion, has pulled on the heartstrings of Fleet Street. Yet these guidelines have far reaching consequences beyond that of Gove’s political posturing, and it is only right he should be held to account for them.</p>
<h2>Putting off children for life</h2>
<p>Using physical activity as punishment is dangerously shortsighted for a number of reasons. Not least of which is the reduction of a physiological need, rich in intrinsic worth and an essential part of human health, to a deliberate short-term lever servicing a means other than that of the exercise itself.</p>
<p>This change represents a motivational chasm, teaching children that they should no longer want to exercise for its benefits but, rather, that they should see it as an onerous, chore-like, task. This is an absurd, upside-down health literacy, whereby obedience is rewarded with physical inactivity. It is, of course, totally ill-conceived. And, what’s more, it’s highly <a href="http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/standards/upload/Physical-Activity-as-Punishment-to-Board-12-10.pdf">unlikely to work</a>. </p>
<p>We have <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED063558">long known</a> that punishment systems bring into being exactly the type of student the systems imagine. When punishments are made salient, learning becomes more about complicity than the deep, inquisitive, and creative thinking that our 21st century economy needs. </p>
<p>Instead of regulating better behaviour, punishments suppress misbehaviour only while the threat of punishment is present. As such, they do not address the root cause of the problem. </p>
<p>Behavioural issues in school are multifaceted. They involve a complex interaction of economic, social and environmental factors that originate far away from the school gates. A more nuanced approach is required that emphases community and social support for parents and children, giving them the information they need to understand the importance of engagement in school. Punishing children with forced exercise ignores the bigger picture, and serves no purpose beyond contributing to the ill-health of a nation that desperately needs more physically active citizens.</p>
<p>And herein lies the crux of this shortsightedness. To become physically active adults, it is a necessary prerequisite for children to have positive experiences of physical activity. Reducing physical activity to punishment tells children that it has only negative appeal. In doing so, continuing to push this guidance runs the very real risk of <a href="http://eprints.bham.ac.uk/387/1/amotivation.pdf">putting children off physical activity for life</a>. Only the most dogmatic of politicians could ignore this.</p>
<p>Tough punishments may make good headlines, but they also have consequences beyond them. We need an education system that actively encourages children to make informed choices, not just about the subjects they study but also the behaviours they engage in. One of the most important of these for both them, and their future society, is to be physically active. I <a href="http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/michael-gove-remove-guidance-to-teachers-that-states-extra-physical-activity-such-as-running-around-a-playing-field-should-be-used-as-punishment-in-schools">join with others</a> including marathon runner <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1216322/sport-stars-slam-goves-school-punishment-plan">Paula Radcliffe</a>, to urge the department for education to repeal this guidance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23495/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Curran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The London Olympics. Remember them? Not so long ago we were talking about their legacy, hoping it would inspire a new physically active generation. A timely legacy, given children in the UK are among the…Thomas Curran, Research Fellow in Sport, Exercise and Well-Being, University of GloucestershireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.