How's North Korea's bold reforestation plan going? Not so well, sadly: According to a Daily NK source in Ryanggang province recently, the provincial branch of the Ministry of Land and Environment Protection marked Arbor Day on March 14 by launching spring reforestation activities, ordering local authorities to plant saplings in designated zones. However, these efforts…

This. Access to toilets is undeniably important. But it is perhaps the least important aspect of the Supreme Court ruling. So I wish people would talk more about the other aspects. Prisons, hospital wards, sports, rape refuges etc. are all more important in my view.And the… — Bev Jackson (@BevJacksonAuth) April 28, 2025 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js "Prisons,…

Another look at the Sony World Photography Awards 2025 exhibition currently on show at Somerset House. This time, photographer Owen Davies with LIGHT/MASS, and some US brutalism: LIGHT/MASS is an ongoing series of alien urban landscapes found in cities across the United States. Owen Davies moved to New York City from England during the spring of…

Hadley Freeman interviews actor John Lithgow: After playing Roald Dahl at his most antisemitic in the phenomenal play Giant, which has transferred from the Royal Court theatre to the West End, John Lithgow thought he knew everything about being a vilified author. Then it was announced that he will play Dumbledore in HBO’s forthcoming ten-season…

A BMJ editorial welcoming the Sullivan review – Sex and gender should not be conflated in medical data: Accurate data are essential to clinical care, research, and health service planning. But in some data sets, the NHS and the wider medical profession have conflated the key demographic variables of sex and gender. This can decrease…

In which obsessed trans activist India Willoughby continues to attack and insult JK Rowling – and gets a better response than he deserves. It seems literally impossible for certain trans activists to grasp that not everything is about them. The only rape crisis centre in Edinburgh prior to the opening of Beira’s Place was run…

This is who Hamas calls ‘Press.’ This is who the @BBCNews uses to present ‘facts.’ It’s one thing to be played, it’s another to be paying for it. pic.twitter.com/D84mdJ4iC1 — Josh Howie (@joshxhowie) April 26, 2025 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js From the Telegraph: A journalist who appears prominently on the BBC’s Arabic channel to report from Gaza called…

Janice Turner in the Times: At last Saturday’s demonstration against the Supreme Court ruling, a burly, gravel-voiced, 50-something man in a baby-doll nightie was interviewed about lavatories. “If I walked into a men’s toilets like this, I’m just asking for trouble,” he said. “It only takes one obnoxious idiot.” Maybe he shouldn't dress up in…

Useful update from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission – An interim update on the practical implications of the UK Supreme Court judgment. Key information The Supreme Court ruled that in the Equality Act 2010 (the Act), ‘sex’ means biological sex. This means that, under the Act: A ‘woman’ is a biological woman or girl…

Arthur Rothstein, June 1939. "A ghost mining town. Pony, Montana." [Photo: Shorpy/Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration]