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Glenda Jackson, Вулиця Вірменська, 2а, Kyiv (2025)

10/07/2023

Optimising work for all

The idea of everyone melding into a similar, shoutier personality type as they vie for influence on their webcams is not particularly appealing. Fortunately, there are established ways to cultivate positive team cultures, even at a distance.

“Essentially, some of the things that happen in an ad-hoc, informal way when we are face-to-face need to become more structured when we operate virtually,” says Staples, giving the examples of a virtual team manager taking the time each day to check in informally on other team-members, and team-members scheduling time for informal virtual coffee chats.

Some of the things that happen in an ad-hoc, informal way when we are face-to-face need to become more structured when we operate virtually – Sandy Staples
As well as scheduling time for virtual water-cooler moments, it’s also important to take some early simple steps, such agreeing how you’re going to work together (including which online communication tools to use) and what the rules of engagement will be, such as letting different people take turns to lead a meeting.

A specific routine that teams could introduce is the ‘daily stand-up meeting’. These are practised widely by so-called ‘agile teams’, which have their roots in software development where the goals and demands of the team are always evolving. It involves a short meeting – no more than 15 minutes – during which each member says what they did yesterday, what they’re doing today and outlines any obstacles in their way. “This is an effective coordination mechanism and it also allows the team to identify issues that need to be dealt with,” says Staples.

The overall aim of stand-up meetings, informal virtual coffee chats and any other new routines that you introduce should be to help people “feel that they are part of a team and that they support each other, so people are willing to ask for help, and know they will get it, and are willing to share both good and bad news”, says Staples.

All this will help to increase what organisational psychologists call ‘psychological safety’ – mutual trust between team-members and the comfort of knowing that you will be forgiven if you slip up. Mutual trust among members is a hallmark of any kind of high-functioning team, virtual or not, and will be vital for our teams to thrive in the challenging months and years ahead.

04/07/2023

While the role of a mum as full-time carer for children is widely accepted, fathers who take the same decision can be judged and isolated.

Ask Steven Lange what he does, and he'll tell you he's involved in start-ups. Or that he works from home. Or that he's semi-retired, though he might go back to work full-time once his youngest child graduates high school next year.

What he's less likely to say is what he actually feels is most accurate.

"I'm a stay-at-home dad," says the Ohio, US-based 52-year-old, who worked in branding and product development for 30 years before he began staying home with his children in 2020. "But I don't think I would ever tell anybody that, or introduce myself that way," he adds. "I find myself feeling like I need to explain to you that I'm not just folding laundry and cooking dinner and going grocery shopping. I've got other stuff I'm doing."

That self-consciousness persists despite knowing just how beneficial his set-up has been: he's forged a closer relationship with his teenaged son; he's been around to help with his new grandchild; and the arrangement has enabled his wife to pursue a master's degree.

Stay-at-home dads like Lange are becoming more common. In the US, for example, the number nearly doubled from 1989 to 2012. But they're still relatively unusual. Of US families with opposite-sex, married parents, 5.6% have working mothers and non-working fathers, compared to the 28.6% with working fathers and non-working mothers. (It's worth noting that this includes people who are unemployed but may be seeking work, so it's an imperfect estimate). In the EU, it's even rarer: about one in 100 men pause their careers for at least six months for childcare, compared to one in three women.

That relative rarity means that men who make this choice can feel like the odd ones out – and sometimes are judged harshly. Even in cultures where fathers are expected to be more involved than in the past, they are still expected to be the breadwinners of the family and are frequently stereotyped as less nurturing or domestically adept than mothers.

All of this means that, for fathers like Lange, staying at home with the kids can feel unusual and ostracising – even if they wouldn't want it any other way.

30/06/2023

Ultimately, Morocco missed its 2020 target, with enough renewable capacity to produce 37% of the country's energy in 2020. Production of energy from renewables lagged behind a little, at closer to 20% of the country's total in 2019. But the country has come a long way. Morocco has since pledged to increase the renewables in its electricity mix to 52% by 2030, made up of 20% solar, 20% wind and 12% hydro. Compared with many other countries, Morocco is doing relatively well on climate action, with its policies and pledges close to being in line with limiting global temperatures to 1.5C, according to analysis from the research group Climate Action Tracker. The country also underwent constitutional reform in 2011 to address gender inequality, known to be a powerful tool in tackling climate change as well as social injustice.

In June 2021, Morocco updated its UN climate pledge with a promise to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 17-18% by 2030 compared with a business-as-usual scenario, with a stretch target of a 42-46% cut on the condition of receiving international support. It has also made a significant effort to decrease government support for fossil fuels, taking advantage of low oil prices in 2014-15 to successfully phase out petrol and fuel oil subsidies.

27/06/2023

A mother who received a life-saving kidney from her brother thanks to pioneering treatment has celebrated the 20th anniversary of the transplant.

Michelle Bingham's kidneys failed after she gave birth to her daughter in 1996.

Antibodies in her blood meant a transplant would be rejected, but following seven years of dialysis, specialists discovered a way to screen them out.

Two decades on, the siblings are both doing well.

22/06/2023

Northampton Town fans are leading the way in making football more sustainable after beating Manchester United to win the Planet League Cup.

Fans of the League Two club carried out over 15,000 green actions across five weeks to win the sustainability tournament, contested by 77 professional clubs.

On their way to claiming the title, the Cobblers defeated the Premier League's Manchester United, West Ham, Leeds and Leicester.

The Red Devils finished second, followed by Lincoln City and West Ham.

Northampton fans took 1,620,000 steps instead of driving their cars, saved almost 10,000 litres of water and hugged 194 trees.

Fans could score goals for their clubs by carrying out these activities:

Layer up - Put on as many layers of clothing as possible in 30 seconds
No Moura landfill - Show off your football skills while recycling, backed by Lucas Moura
Power 5k - Go for a walk/cycle instead of using the car
Pumped up - Pump up your car tyres
Screens off - Try a screen-free evening
Over the line - Hanging out the washing instead of using the tumble drier
Smart move - Get a smart meter installed
Snap a bug - Get into nature and identify an insect
Meat-free meal - Eat a meat-free meal
Bug stadium - Build a football stadium for the bugs
Fergie-time food - Grab some yellow-ticket food from the supermarket
No-moo milk - Try plant-based milk
Charity shop drop - Donate a bag of preloved clothes
Fan actions were verified using the Planet League Cup's virtual assistant referee (VAR) system.

19/06/2023

The most obvious difference between Fetch and Esa's 2022 Rosalind Franklin rover is the locomotion system. Mars rovers have traditionally been six-wheelers. Fetch will have just four large wheels, giving it the look of a "dune buggy".

This design decision is controlled in part by the volume constraints of the capsule system that will take Fetch and its associated equipment to Mars, but also by the type of driving the rover will have to do when it gets on the ground.

Engineers envisage the 230kg Fetch robot as something of a speedster, travelling hundreds of metres a day over sometimes difficult terrain as it searches for, and retrieves, the rock canisters dropped by Perseverance.

"These wheels really are pretty big," explained Mr Boyes. "Rosalind Franklin's wheels are about 25cm in diameter; the wheels on Fetch are 70cm. But while Rosalind Franklin is an exploration mission where a decision can be taken to avoid tricky ground, Fetch has a very specific job and will be under time pressure. It may need to cross fractured ground."

The wheels have been developed by Nasa at its Glenn Research Center and the B2 contract will see examples fitted to a prototype rover, or breadboard, to demonstrate their capability.

15/06/2023

Responding to Mr Skates's concerns about the A483 in the Senedd on Tuesday, Mr Waters said ministers would continue to work with the local authority to find a way of addressing the local air quality problems.

But he added: "Building extra road capacity has been shown, time and again, to generate further traffic, which has the overall impact of worsening air quality and damaging the climate.

"So, I appreciate these are difficult trade-offs at times, and we all have local constituency considerations, and he is not the only one with that, but we have to be prepared to follow through on the policies that we've set out."

Mr Skates said: "We all want to achieve net-zero targets. But in order to do so you also have to make sure that you bring people with you.

"If you don't want people to use a car you have got to provide an alternative.

"What we had is a road review that has essentially stopped road investment for the most part without a parallel plan or an advanced plan for improving bus, rail or active travel."

07/06/2023

Everything is now fully assembled, including Juice's suite of 10 scientific instruments.

"We have a number of high-resolution cameras on this probe in all possible wavelengths - in infrared, the visible and ultraviolet," explained engineer Cyril Cavel, as he pointed out a collection of boxes hanging off one side of the silver and black satellite.

"You can see all these instruments underneath protective, transparent covers. The high-resolution visible telescope, which is called Janus, will take fantastic pictures very close to the moons because we will do flybys at just 400km altitude. They will be stunning shots," the Airbus Juice project manager said.

Glenda Jackson

10/07/2023

04/07/2023

30/06/2023

27/06/2023

22/06/2023

19/06/2023

15/06/2023

07/06/2023

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