Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy has announced her withdrawal from the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) because of filmmaker Wim Wenders' "jaw-dropping" comments on Israel's genocide in Gaza.

Roy described Wenders' comments as "a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time". Wenders said at a press conference on 12 February 2026 that the art world should "stay out of politics":

We have to stay out of politics because if we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics. [Filmmakers should be] the counterweight of politics, we are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people, not the work of politicians.

The "shocked and disgusted" Roy was unequivocal in her opposition to Wenders's nonsense:

To hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping," said Roy in a statement announcing she would be exiting the Berlinale jury. "It is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time - when artists, writers and film makers should be doing everything in their power to stop it.

It is, of course, inherently political to say that art should not be political, because silence aids the oppressor. The Israel lobby always attempts to cow politicians, news media, and artists into either silence or active collaboration. All too often it succeeds.

The festival previously marketed itself as the most political major film festival, but capitulated to the Israel lobby after the start of Israel's genocide in Gaza. Humanitarian campaigners called for a boycott of the 2024 festival for its refusal to denounce the genocide and Israel's other crimes against the Palestinian people.

Roy's full statement reads:

In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, a whimsical film that I wrote 38 years ago, was selected to be screened under the Classics section at the Berlinale 2026. There was something sweet and wonderful about this for me.

Although I have been profoundly disturbed by the positions taken by the German government and various German cultural institutions on Palestine, I have always received political solidarity when I have spoken to German audiences about my views on the genocide in Gaza. This is what made it possible for me to think of attending the screening of Annie at the Berlinale.

This morning, like millions of people across the world, I heard the unconscionable statements made by members of the jury of the Berlin film festival when they were asked to comment about the genocide in Gaza. To hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping. It is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time - when artists, writers and film makers should be doing everything in their power to stop it.

Let me say this clearly: what has happened in Gaza, what continues to happen, is a genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel. It is supported and funded by the governments of the United States and Germany, as well as several other countries in Europe, which makes them complicit in the crime.

If the greatest film makers and artists of our time cannot stand up and say so, they should know that history will judge them. I am shocked and disgusted.

With deep regret, I must say that I will not be attending the Berlinale.

Arundhati Roy

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

Crisis-hit UK PM Keir Starmer is fast-tracking gigantic spikes in war spending. He says it is to defend the country. In reality, Starmer is yet again sucking up to US president Donald Trump. The UK government needs to get its head out of 1997 for all our sakes.

Starmer wants £14bn a year spent on war and the military. That is to say, £14bn more going into the pockets of arms firms and their fellow travelers.

The Guardian reported:

At the Munich Security Conference at the weekend, Starmer argued for higher and more sustained defence spending to meet the threat from Russia. "We must build our hard power because that is the currency of our age," he said. "We must spend more, deliver more and coordinate more."

Currently the UK spends 2.3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. The increase would take that figure up to 2.6%.

But it could go higher still:

The BBC said No 10 was considering an increase to 3% of GDP by the end of this parliament in 2029 to meet Starmer's ambition, although it is unclear if this will turn into a concrete plan given the many obstacles.

Politico explained the rate of acceleration:

The British prime minister last year pledged to spend 2.6 percent of GDP on defense by 2027, and 3 percent by the end of the next parliament in 2034.

Ministers are now considering accelerating those plans to hit 3 percent by 2029, as first reported by the BBC and backed up by two government officials.

Stop the War Coalition said the move was simply about appeasing Trump's demands for higher spending among European allies:

This is part of a massive European arms drive aimed at appeasing Trump as he demands Europe pay more for its own defence.

The additional cost comes at a time when we are told to accept cuts to pensions, to wages and to public services, while much of what is spent will go directly into the coffers of US arms manufacturers.

The coalition warned the militarist foundations were being laid for a major war in Europe:

It is clear Europe is creating a climate in which war with Russia is more likely, a war where nuclear weapons could be used with catastrophic consequences.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio's said as much in his Munich Security Conference speech. As part of his weird colonialist rant, Rubio warned the European 'civilisation' was under threat.

He also said:

And this is why we do not want our allies to be weak, because that makes us weaker.  We want allies who can defend themselves so that no adversary will ever be tempted to test our collective strength.

Adding:

We want allies who are proud of their culture and of their heritage, who understand that we are heirs to the same great and noble civilization, and who, together with us, are willing and able to defend it.

Starmer wants to stay close to the US - despite Trump's erratic behaviour. The UK PM is from a school of British political thought which ran out of steam decades ago. That Blairite ideology was defined by a puppy-like obedience to US power. It didn't serve the UK then and it sure as hell doesn't serve us now.

This country needs fresh ideas. A good one would be to stop being snivelling vassal of the United States.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

The winter Olympic events consist of skiing, skating, or sliding in a variety of wild ways. Biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing and target shooting, has some competition for the title of "craziest sport combining other sports" at the Olympics with the debut of skimo. — Read the rest

The post The newest Olympic sport is bonkers appeared first on Boing Boing.

Casio's Moflin is an adorable artificial pet, which is to say a toy that's hooked up to AI so that it's squeakings and movements have some element of verisimilitude and the unexpected. The Tribble-like "AI Companion" is designed to "support, reassure, and grow with you through life's everyday moments," as the literature goes, and comes in gold and silver. — Read the rest

The post Do you love your Casio Moflin? appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Send voice messages directly through Gmail or Outlook with a lifetime subscription to Chorde for $39.99 (MSRP $199).

Are you a better yapper than a writer? If you've got the gift of gab, but never feel like it translates to writing, it might be time to start writing emails with your voice. — Read the rest

The post Come across like yourself over email with Chorde appeared first on Boing Boing.

Earlier this month, MIT Press came out with The Unseen Internet: Conjuring the Occult in Digital Discourse by Shira Chess, and it seems like a book some of you might be interested in. 

Here is part of the book blurb: "Historically the emergence of the internet was concurrent with technopaganism, which blended digital technologies with the occult in ways that are both seen and unseen by the casual user. While technopaganism is not the only lens with which to understand the emergence of the internet, it is an understudied one that reaches toward contemporary anxieties about the ineffability of our tech."

Joseph Matheny called the book to my attention in his latest Substack, 

Matheny says he tried to do a similar book and endorses Chess'. "I will give it a full-throated endorsement and assure you that you will be in capable hands ... Included in the interviews, acknowledgements, and profiles (besides your's truly) are friends, acquaintances, and co-conspirators: Nick Herbert, Tiffany Lee Brown, Jon Lebkowsky, Robert Anton Wilson, Klint Finley, R.U. Sirius, Richard Metzger, Don Webb, Timothy Leary, and Douglas Rushkoff, to name a few. I'm sure I left someone out, but it wasn't on purpose." More at the link.

Chess has a Substack. 

There are some examples of renewable energy success right now in this world. Over 98% of electricity in British Columbia is generated by clean, renewable sources. Norway generates about 98% from renewables as well. This northern European country also leads in electric vehicles, as in fully electric vehicles, not hybrids ... [continued]

The post Electricity Prices Decreased In South Australia Because Of Clean Renewables appeared first on CleanTechnica.

A new round of tidal energy activity is beginning to surface in the US, including a plan to install slim, powerful tidal turbines from the Scottish firm Orbital Marine Power in Washington State.

The post The US Can Still Make Tidal Energy Happen appeared first on CleanTechnica.

A voiceover previewing a new sci-fi movie narrated, "The newcomers had killed their planet, just like we are." The ominous fiction rings true to today's reality. US President Donald J. Trump has rejected any gesture of global climate cooperation from allies and has withdrawn the US from the Paris climate ... [continued]

The post Can We Dare To Be Hopeful About Clean Energy? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Here we go again.

The Trump FTC has threatened Apple and CEO Tim Cook with a fake investigation claiming that Apple News doesn't do a good enough job coddling right wing, Trump-friendly ideology.

The announcement and associated letter pretends that Apple is violating Section 5 of the FTC Act (which "prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices") because it's not giving right wing propaganda outlets the same visibility as other media in the Apple News feed (which the letter falsely claims are "left wing"):

"Recently, there have been reports that Apple News has systematically promoted news
articles from left-wing news outlets and suppressed news articles from more conservative
publications. Indeed, multiple studies have found that in recent months Apple News has chosen not to feature a single article from an American conservative-leaning news source, while simultaneously promoting hundreds of articles from liberal publications."

This is all gibberish and bullshit. Their primary evidence is a shitty article from Rupert Murdoch's right wing rag The New York Post, which in turn leans on a laughable study by the right wing Media Research Center. That "study" looked at a small sample size of 620 articles promoted by Apple News, randomly and arbitrarily declared 440 of them as having a "liberal bias," and then concluded Apple was up to no good.

Among the outlets derided as "liberal" sits papers like the Washington Post, which has been tripping over itself to appease Trump and become, very obviously, more right wing and corporatist than ever under its owner Jeff Bezos, who recently vastly overpaid Donald Trump's wife to make a "documentary" about her.

The FTC's fake investigation obviously violates the First Amendment. Even if it were true that Apple was biased in what sources it had in Apple News (which the evidence doesn't actually support), that's… still legal, based on Apple's First Amendment rights. If the Biden FTC had gone after Fox News for "anti-liberal bias" everyone (including many Democrats) would call out the obvious First Amendment problem. But even ignoring the First Amendment problems of all this, claiming that this is covered by Section 5 is laughable. I've watched for years as the FTC has struggled to legally defend genuine investigations into obvious corporate instances of very clear fraud and still come out on the losing end due to the murky construction of the law.

This inquiry has no legal legs to stand on.

I suspect FTC boss Andrew Ferguson is leaving soon and wanted an opportunity to put his name in lights across the right wing propaganda echoplex as somebody who is "doing something to combat the wokes" with a phony investigation, much like the FCC's Brendan Carr does. It's likely this is mostly being driven by partisan ambition.

There doesn't need to be any legally supporting evidence (or hell even an actual investigation), the point is to have the growing parade of right-wing friendly media make it appear as if key MAGA zealots are doing useful things in service of the cause. And to threaten companies with costly and pointless headaches if they don't pathetically bend the knee to Trumpism (which Cook has been very good at so far).

So while the "investigation" may be completely bogus, the threat of it still has a dangerous impact on free expression in a country staring down the barrel of authoritarianism. Somewhere, Tim Cook is shopping around for another shiny bauble to throw at the feet of our mad, idiot king.

Here's where I'll mention that if you ask an actual, objective media scholar here on planet Earth, they'll be quick to inform you that U.S. media and journalism pretty consistently has a center-right, corporatist bias.

As the ad-driven U.S. media consolidates under corporate control, it largely functions less and less as a venue for real journalism and informed democratic consensus, and more as either an infotainment distraction mechanism to keep the plebs busy, or as a purveyor of corporate-friendly agitprop that coddles the narratives surrounding unchecked wealth accumulation by the extraction class.

From the Washington Post to CBS, from Twitter to TikTok, to consolidation among local right wing broadcasters, the U.S. right wing is very clearly buying up U.S. media in the pursuit of the same sort of autocratic state television we've seen arise in countries like Russia and Hungary.

This effort is propped up by an endless barrage of claims that the already corporatist, center-right U.S. press is secretly left wing, and that the only solution is to shift the editorial Overton window even further to the right. These folks genuinely will not be satisfied until the entirety of U.S. media resembles the sort of fawning, mindless agitprop we see in countries like North Korea.

This is not hyperbole. They're building it right in front of your noses. It's yet to be seen if fans of free speech, democratic norms, and objective reality can muster any sort of useful resistance.

The UK's long-promised "Single Trade Window" has quietly run out of steam after burning through more than £111 million ($150 million), with officials confirming the program has been "brought to early closure."…

Norwich-based band, Bag Of Cans are currently playing their hearts out across the UK. They are maverick - understatement, they most definitely entertain, and they provide some thumpingly good tunes. Formed in 2017, the band have a constant and loyal cohort growing fan base. Think of Britpop, especially, Blur, with a smattering of the Libertines and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and then you may know what to expect. This band laughs at itself, and its lyrics are deliciously humorous and beautifully twisted.

Bag Of Cans produces an excellent respite to the monotonous droning of drum and bass or the sycophantic narcissism of so much of the current contemporary oeuvres. For a start this crew can write - admittedly somewhat bizarre - lyrics, but they resonate with an audience that's bored with the mainstream, often feels disenfranchised and needs a release. Why not sing about a favourite shirt.

"He's drowning in confidence (Favourite Shirt).
Smiling at strangers on the street (Favourite Shirt).
Great big grin on his face (Favourite Shirt).
Delightful, to everyone he meets (Favourite Shirt).
No, not in a strange way (Favourite Shirt).
In a hope you have a nice day way (Favourite Shirt).
In an absolute pleasure to be around way (Favourite Shirt).
And nothing could possibly change that today way (Favourite)."

Talking to the band's drummer, Joe explains how this unorthodox bunch got together.

"We all met separately. I met the bassist, Sam Watts, on my course, (Environmental Studies at UEA) and he was in a band with Tom McGhie, (journalist) separately doing gypsy jazz swing stuff. The two Georges: George Baker, trumpet and vocals and George Bryce, guitar and vocals, moved here for work, one in insurance and the other at the cathedral, and then bonded in the open mic scene and started a duo which became the initial Bag of Cans. At the same time Sam, the bassist, introduced me to Tom and we started a psych rock band with some other friends."

Joe continues, "I did a drum recording for the two Georges for some SoundCloud demos in Tom's front room which was how I got to know them. Then a member from the psych rock band I was in started putting on shows called Fangsound at the Pig and Whistle (before it became a sports bar) and asked the two Georges to play. They then asked Sam, Tom and me if we'd be able to add a full band to it - and the rest is history."

It may be history to them but to their fans it was a hallelujah moment. Their eclectic, sometimes bizarre style is typified in Hair of the Dog. Unsurprisingly the song's video depicts a dead/comatose Tom McGhie being revived by a tankard of brew. Dressing up is one of the band's fortés, but make no mistake, this group is as passionate and serious about its music and entertainment as it is its quirky humour.

Supporting Northern Irish headliners Ash for their current tour, Bag Of Cans, can be spotted in both Norwich on 17 February at Epic Studios, and Chinnery's Southend on 18 February, concluding with a grand finale at Birmingham's O2 Institute on 19 February.

With a thematic issue on a vital topic - the rise child poverty, ending on a hopeful note. You will find sharp analyses on the effect of poverty on children's lives, with a spotlight on the communities that are on the front line of deprivation, with personal stories and shared solutions. Click on the image to gain access to it, or find us on Substack.

Journalism by the people, for the people.

The post Never kick a Bag of Cans into the long grass first appeared on East Anglia Bylines.

The venture capitalist son of Anthony Scaramucci shows off his investing prowess by setting the record for the most expensive Pokémon card purchase of all time at $16.5M.

The Mooch was one of Trump's most laughable clowns, and he did his damage to the reputation of the United States in record time. — Read the rest

The post Son of Anthony Scaramucci sets record with $16.49M Pokémon card purchase appeared first on Boing Boing.

While wireless charging hasn't standardized enough to eliminate the need for three different surfaces, it has gotten pretty good. This Energizer stand handles all my portable devices and then some.

I try to keep a Kindle Paperwhite SE, Apple Watch, iPhone, Apple iPod, and iPad Pro charged up and use them all daily. — Read the rest

The post I am very happy with my Energizer wireless charging stand appeared first on Boing Boing.

Cursing and controversy rarely mix with curling or Canada. But a tense game between the Canadian and Swedish men's teams at the Milano Cortina Olympics delivered both. The incident shocked fans of the typically sportsmanlike game.

The Swedes told officials that Canadian Marc Kennedy had touched the stone's granite portion during delivery, somewhat sarcastically asking for rule clarification. — Read the rest

The post Olympic curling gets ugly with Boopgate appeared first on Boing Boing.

Green's Dictionary of Slang, the largest collection of English vulgarities, slurs and other ne'er-do-well words, is now free to read online thanks to author Jonathon Green. It is 'Quite simply the best historical dictionary of English slang there is, ever has been…or is ever likely to be,' according to the Journal of English Language and Linguistics. — Read the rest

The post Largest dictionary of English-language slang now free online appeared first on Boing Boing.

Millions of people in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and beyond are today enjoying pancakes, because it is Pancake Day. Formally Shrove Tuesday, a tradition rooted in centuries of religious practice and culinary custom preceding Ash Wednesday, it's now mostly about the pancakes. — Read the rest

The post It is pancake day appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Microsoft Visio Professional 2024 for Windows is on sale for $44.97, giving you a lifetime license to build professional flowcharts, network diagrams, and data-linked visuals without a subscription.

Some people are visual learners. Others are visual thinkers. And if you're the type who sees processes as boxes connected by arrows, you already know that waving your hands around in a meeting just doesn't cut it. — Read the rest

The post Diagram like a grown-up with Microsoft Visio Pro 2024 for $45 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Snapchat is taking a page out of Meta's handbook. The social media platform has announced it will launch creator subscriptions for users. Meta-owned Instagram and Facebook currently offer a similar feature. 

On Snapchat, creator subscriptions will give users access to exclusive content across Snaps and Stories. They will also get priority replies and go ad-free on stories. Snapchat pitches the new feature as great way to give creators "freedom to experiment" and "build a recurring income stream" — all good things for keeping people on your platform. 

Creators can choose exactly how much they want to charge subscribers per month. They can spread these figures out across Snapchat's recommended tiers. 

Starting February 23, select US-based Snapchat creators will be able to offer subscriptions. In the US, iOS users should then be able to subscribe to their accounts. The feature should expand to Canada, France, and the UK in the coming weeks. 

Recent investigations have uncovered forced labour in agricultural supply chains, illegal fishing feeding supermarket freezers, deforestation embedded in everyday food products, and unsafe conditions in factories producing "sustainable" fashion. These harms were not visible on labels. They surfaced only when journalists, whistleblowers or activists exposed them.

And when they did, something predictable happened. Consumers felt uneasy. Brands issued statements. Promises were made. The point is that the force that set change in motion was not regulation. It was consumers.

Discovering that an ordinary purchase may be tied to exploitation or environmental damage creates a jolt of personal responsibility. In our research, we found that when environmental consequences are clearly linked to people's own buying choices, many are willing to switch products — especially when credible alternatives exist.

But guilt is private. It nudges personal behaviour. It does not automatically reshape systems. The shift happens when private discomfort becomes public voice.

Consumers are often also the first to make hidden environmental harms visible. They post evidence on social media. They question corporate claims. They compare sustainability promises with independent reporting. They organise petitions, boycotts and review campaigns. By shining a spotlight on the truth, the scrutiny shifts from shoppers to brands.

That shift matters because modern brands depend on trust. Reputation is an asset. When sustainability claims are publicly challenged, credibility is at risk. Research in organisational behaviour shows that firms respond quickly to threats to legitimacy. Reputational damage affects customer loyalty, investor confidence and regulatory attention.

In many high-profile cases, supply chain reforms have followed intense public scrutiny rather than quiet compliance checks. Leaders may not act out of moral awakening — but they do act when inaction becomes costly to their reputation.

Consumers can trigger the emotional chain reaction. They feel guilt. They seek information. They speak collectively. That collective voice generates corporate shame.

Sustainability professor Mike Berners-Lee argues in his book A Climate of Truth that demanding honesty is one of the most powerful climate actions available to citizens. Raising standards of truthfulness in business and media changes incentives. When the gap between what companies say and what they do becomes visible, maintaining that gap becomes harder.

Our research explores how that visibility can be strengthened. The findings were clear. When environmental and social consequences are personalised and traceable, sustainability feels less distant. People see both their own role and the role of particular firms. That dual awareness encourages two responses: behavioural change driven by guilt and corporate accountability driven by shame.

Shame works because it is social. Brands care about how they are seen. When the negative environmental and social effects of supply chains can be publicly connected to named products, corporate narratives become contestable in real time.

The technology to improve transparency already exists. Companies track goods through logistics systems, supplier databases and digital product-tagging that collect detailed information about sourcing and production. The barrier is not data collection. It is disclosure.

Environmental indicators — carbon emissions, water use, land conversion risk, labour standards compliance — can be linked to products through QR codes or retail apps. Comparable reporting standards would ensure consistency. Simple digital interfaces would make information accessible. Social sharing tools would allow consumers to compare and discuss findings publicly.

Social media is crucial. It already enables workers, communities and campaigners to challenge corporate messaging. Integrating verified supply chain data into these spaces would shift transparency from crisis response to everyday expectation.

This strategy, with its behaviour change directive, could work more effectively than rules or green marketing campaigns alone.

Regulation is essential but often slow and uneven across borders. Marketing campaigns can highlight selective improvements while leaving deeper practices untouched. Transparency activated by collective consumer voice operates differently. It aligns emotional motivation with reputational consequence.

Consumers are not passive recipients of information. They are catalysts. By feeling the first twinge of guilt, asking harder questions and speaking together, they create the conditions under which companies experience shame. When shame threatens trust and market position, change becomes rational and inevitable.

Shame is uncomfortable. But when directed at opaque systems rather than consumers, it can be powerful. By demanding truth and making supply chains socially visible, consumers can push businesses towards greater transparency — and, ultimately, towards more sustainable practice.

Don't have time to read about climate change as much as you'd like?
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation's environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 47,000+ readers who've subscribed so far.

Janet Godsell receives funding for the Interact Network+ from the Innovate UK Made Smarter Innovation Programme via the ESRC. She is affiliated with the World Economic Forum (WEF) Advanced Future Council for Advanced Manufacturing and Global Value Chains.

Nikolai Kazantsev receives funding from UKRI funded project "Resilience in Agrifood Systems Supply Chain Configuration Analytics Lab (Project ID: R1650GFS). He is a fellow of Clare Hall College, Cambridge.

After weeks of relentless rain and flooding, and even more forecast, 2025's droughts and hosepipe bans feel like ancient history. But they shouldn't.

The UK is increasingly caught between these wetter winters and warmer, drier summers. What if this year's summer brings water shortages again? The seemingly endless rainfall causing flooding across the UK right now could help solve future summer drought problems - if we capture it right.

The stakes are high in Speyside, home to around half of Scotland's malt whisky distilleries. They had to cope with 2025 being the UK's warmest and sunniest on record, where prolonged dry conditions led to widespread restrictions on water abstraction. Multiple distilleries were forced into temporary closures, costing the industry millions of pounds and highlighting just how vulnerable even Scotland's famously wet regions are to water scarcity.

Whisky production represents one of the UK's biggest industrial water users. Large quantities of water are required for the distilling process and the product itself, so understanding water conservation is both extremely important for the industry, and can also help others recognise the benefits.

If it was possible to retain this winter's rainfall and release it gradually when it was needed, the nation could become more resilient to both floods and droughts without building expensive new reservoirs.

Across Speyside, they're testing ways to slow, store and steadily release water by working with the landscape rather than against it. Distillers have invested in leaky dams (small barriers built across temporary upland streams) to slow the flow of water during heavy rain and allow the rainwater to soak into soil and recharge groundwater.

Leaky dams hold the water at surface level as well helping it store underground. Water in the soil and deeper groundwater move through the subsurface much more slowly than over land - taking weeks or months rather than hours or days - which is why rivers still flow even after long dry spells.

There are other examples of useful interventions. Peatland restoration, wetland creation and tree planting all work by increasing temporary storage in the landscape and slowing the movement of water into rivers.

Read more: Environment issues have never been so fiercely debated in a Welsh election campaign as they will be in 2026

Research across upland catchment areas in Cumbria and West Yorkshire shows how the principles being tested in Speyside could translate to elsewhere. A large academic review of natural flood management evidence concluded that measures increasing water storage, slowing the flow of water over the land or enhancing soil structure can consistently reduce the peak level of a flood.

This growing body of evidence supports a simple but powerful idea: the UK and other countries could be more resilient to droughts and floods by redesigning landscapes to keep water around for longer.

1. Design and location matter

Local factors and hydrology (the study of the movement and management of water) can determine what works best where. For example, planting trees "somewhere" delivers far less benefit than planting them in the right places, especially near rivers, near the source of the river, or where soil can absorb water.

2. Benefits must stack up or they won't be adopted

Leaky dams and other projects, such as tree planting, are relatively inexpensive, compared with traditionally engineered flood defences or having to deal with flood and drought consequences. They can deliver benefits at a fraction of the cost, while potentially also increasing biodiversity, soil health, carbon capture and improving water quality.

But there are trade-offs, which need to be assessed early. For example, in some cases, large-scale tree planting can also reduce summer water availability in already stressed catchment areas. Tree canopies can temporarily store water on the leaves, but if this water evaporates it doesn't return to the soil. Tree roots improve the soil so it absorbs and stores more water, but trees can also use more water. The net effects depend on factors such as climate, soil type and tree species.

3. Good governance will unlock funding

When water security has clear economic benefits, businesses are willing to engage. However, investment is not always private, and a recent review showed public funding is often fragmented, with inconsistent planning rules. Strengthening overall governance of these kind of schemes is essential, because farmers, businesses and landowners are far more likely to participate if they benefit.

Managing our landscapes appropriately won't stop all floods or prevent every drought, but it can make both less severe, while restoring habitats, supporting farming, and protecting industries that rely on dependable water supplies.

Every river carrying floodwater to the sea represents water that could be stored for drier months. Thinking ahead for what happens during heavy rains can be part of forward planning for more extreme weather in years to come.

Josie Geris receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council, Royal Society, the Scottish Government via CREW (Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Waters), and Chivas Brothers.

Megan Klaar receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council, The Leverhulme Trust and National Trust.

Nintendo's Virtual Boy app is now available to download on Switch and Switch 2 as part of its Nintendo Classics offering. You'll need to have a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership to access the launch titles, and unlike Nintendo's other retro emulators, this one also requires a dedicated accessory.

As a reminder, the Virtual Boy was a portable tabletop system released in 1995, and the first console capable of rendering stereoscopic 3D graphics. It had a facemask with a monochrome red display built onto a bipod, so rather than wearing it like a modern VR headset, you had to awkwardly push your face towards it to play games.

Once you enter the third dimension, there's no going back…#VirtualBoy - Nintendo Classics is available now on #NintendoSwitch2 and #NintendoSwitch, as part of #NintendoSwitchOnline + Expansion Pack! pic.twitter.com/2uLd8iYorB

— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) February 17, 2026

While undeniably innovative for the time, the console never took off (to put it gently), but Nintendo is giving anyone who missed out in the '90s a chance to experience one of the strangest experiments in its history in 2026. Aesthetically, the $100 Virtual Boy add-on is a near perfect replica of the original console, with the big difference being that rather than a built-in display, it has a slot for sliding in your Switch or Switch 2. And unlike the OG Virtual Boy, this one is also wireless.

If $100 seems a bit steep for something that'll almost certainly be collecting dust before summer rolls around, Nintendo is also selling a $25 cardboard version (unfortunately your old Labo VR headset won't work here). Both are available to buy from the My Nintendo Store.

The Virtual Boy app is launching with the following games today: 3d Tetris, Galactic Pinball, Golf, The Mansion of Innsmouth, Red Alarm, Teleroboxer and Virtual Boy Wario Land. More games will be added in the future, including Mario Clash, Mario's Tennis and Space Invaders Virtual Collection.

During the flurry of CES 2026 news at the start of the year, it might have been easy to overlook Amazon's announcement that the Fire TV user interface is getting a revamp. But that redesign is rolling out starting today for US viewers. It will be available to users as a free update. 

The main visual updates for the streaming device's UI are a lot of rounded corners. But Amazon is also emphasizing speed in this new look, claiming that the improvements will offer 20 to 30 percent faster interactions. This version of the UI also makes more apps visible on the screen at a time, with up to 20 apps able to be pinned to the homescreen compared with six in the prior design. The update also has access to the Alexa+ AI voice assistant if you want to use it to pull up viewing suggestions or to organize your viewing queue.

An employment tribunal has reaffirmed that anti-Zionism is a "protected characteristic" under equality legislation in relation to the workplace. It then denied protection to two Muslim women disciplined by an Israel-supporting bank for opposing its genocide-friendly investments.

The finding reconfirms the landmark decision of a 2024 tribunal that sacked Bristol professor David Miller's anti-Zionism is protected by anti-discrimination workplace law. It also notably rejected the claim of the Israel lobby's so-called 'IHRA definition of antisemitism', which Lloyds Bank tried to invoke.

However, the tribunal judges decided that the two women's anti-Zionism had not yet reached the level of a "philosophical belief" at the time they sent messages to colleagues demanding that Lloyds stop investing in companies profiting from Israel's genocide. Instead, they said that at that point it was "political opinion" not protected by legislation. They hold it as philosophical belief now, the judges ruled, so they would have upheld their claim if the disciplinary action happened now. The judges strongly criticised Lloyds Bank's actions but rejected the women's claim.

Under equality legislation, according to mediator Acas, a "philosophical belief" must be "all of the following":

• genuinely held
• not just an opinion or point of view based on current information
• about a significant aspect of human life and behaviour
• clear, consistent, serious and important
• acceptable in a democratic society - it must respect other people's fundamental rights

The European Legal Support Centre, which supported the two women's case, said that in spite of the adverse outcome the judgment was positive:

This judgment adds to the growing body of cases confirming that anti-Zionism is capable of amounting to a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. While the claims did not succeed on the particular facts, the Tribunal made clear that beliefs supporting Palestinian rights can be worthy of respect in a democratic society, and that weaponisation of disciplinary action may give rise to unlawful discrimination.

Ms Sohail and Mrs Khalid should be recognised for their principled decision to pursue this case, which has helped clarify the law and strengthen protections for workers who seek to express deeply held beliefs in the workplace.

The so-called 'IHRA working definition of antisemitism' has been rejected even by its author as unfit for purpose. It has been rejected by legal experts, including Jewish experts, as legally useless for anything but attacking critics of Israel. It is frequently presented as the gold standard and used to protect Israel from criticism.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

US Senator and professional Southern Good Ol' Boy Lindsey Graham says the future of warfare looks like Israel's genocidal attack on Gaza. For once South Carolina's most swivel-eyed hard-right Zionist is bang on the money. And the evidence is right under American noses…

Graham told an audience in Tel Aviv:

The wars of the future are being planned here in Israel.

He insisted that

the most clever, creative military forces on the planet are here in Israel because they have to be to survive

Adding:

So what we're looking at is that Israel is advancing down the road to new weaponry far beyond us. And it would be nice to have a process where we could be partners.

Self-evidently, a lot of this is is garbage, including the myth of 'poor little Israel' fighting to survive in the midst of its enemies. The nuclear-armed settler-colonial state has been backed and armed by - and for the benefit of - Western imperial powers since the very beginning.

Graham is right though that the genocide in Gaza contain a blueprint for future warfighting. In fact, we can even see that taking place inside the US.

As +972 reported on 12 February:

ICE operations increasingly resemble Israeli occupation. That's no coincidence.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are US president Donald Trump's own paramilitary force. Officially their remit is to detain undocumented migrants. In reality, they are being used to discipline Trump's enemies - using Israeli-linked tactics and AI.

Using apps like ELITE and Fortify, ICE's occupations in places like Minnesota have mirrored Israeli methods.

The technologies supporting their operations illustrate how thoroughly ICE is following in Israel's footsteps: both ELITE and Mobile Fortify bear a striking resemblance to mobile targeting applications Israeli forces have integrated into their policing arsenal over the last decade.

Graham may be a clown, but even the most ridiculous court jester can stumble upon profound truths.

And in a shock no nobody who has been following the news lately, Graham singled out the UAE for special praise:

Graham told his audience that butcher of Gaza 'Bibi' Netanyahu wanted him to tell the UAE's leaders what a great partner the oil state had been to Israel.

I want to go there tomorrow to and acknowledge MBZ's leadership and suggest that America improve his capability to defend the UAE and the region.

The UAE, like Israel, is currently deeply implicated in genocide. The UAE is supporting Sudan's Rapid Support Forces in a war which has killed and displaced millions over the last three years. Here are a whole raft of articles on Sudan we've done lately.

Lindsey Graham has never seen a genocide - or met a genocidaire - he didn't like. But at the heart of his commentary there is a fundamental truth: Israel has laid the groundwork for a new scorched earth way of war powered by a deranged cocktail of old-fashioned colonial racism and new-fashioned technology.

For my first piece back at the Canary in 2025 I wrote about what Hannah Arendt would call the imperial boomerang. You can read that here.

But Arendt was merely drawing on something Aimé Césaire had developed. Césaire, a seminal anti-colonialist writer, said of Europeans that before the tactics and technologies of empire exploded back into the imperial core as 20th century fascism:

They tolerated that Nazism before it was inflicted on them, … they absolved it, shut their eyes to it, legitimized it, because, until then, it had been applied only to non-European peoples.

It's awfully late in the day, folks. But if I was you, I'd get reading…

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

The following is a repost of a piece by Areej Alghazzawi which Amnesty International published on 16 February.

Trauma follows us like our shadows during daylight. At night, trauma envelopes us until we feel like we are drowning.

Trauma also lives inside us like a disease. Good people in Geneva, New York, and The Hague say there is a cure, but we can't inject their statements.

14-year-old Shorouq Thabet is the only survivor of her immediate family, who were all killed during Israel's genocide. When I first asked her how she was, she simply responded with "nightmare".

Adulthood is being forced on Shorouq, and she fights it by fantasising about being a young child again, when her only worry was wondering where her doll had wandered off to.

She longs to hear her parents' voices; even their arguments could bring some comfort. They were killed in Deir Al-Balah following an Israeli attack on 17 March 2024. It was the last time she would sleep beside her mother and feel that special warmth. It was the last time she'd play with her younger sister, Shahed.

Shorouq has been in therapy for some time now in the hope of learning to resist the darkness. Until now, there has been no relief. The smell and sight of destruction that is everywhere, and in everyone, in Gaza, open up the wounds again within seconds of leaving her therapy sessions.

On the night of the Israeli strike, she told me she had a strange feeling - that danger was in the room with them. She asked her mother to turn on a flashlight and hold her closely.

At some point, she said she managed to sleep, but when she woke, she was in a hospital. Her mother had survived the attack and was covered in blood:

She was frantically checking on me, my sister, and two brothers, Mohammed and Ahmad. I could see her but not feel her. I was going in and out of the darkness.

It was the first time she had seen her mother in such pain. Her mother's face, covered in blood, is the last memory she has of her.

Her mother didn't survive, nor did her father, little sister, or older brothers. The full details of her family massacre were only told to her when she was out of the hospital after seven days of urgent medical attention.

Now she lives with her uncle Wael and his wife. I saw many people gathered at their home when Shorouq arrived. Everybody was crying. Nobody was talking.

A few days later, Shorouq told me:

At that moment, surrounded by so many unhappy people, I felt a change. I felt myself turning into an adult, with responsibilities. Now is not the time of dolls and dreams.

Try as she did to resist the pain, it was clear that young Shorouq just wanted to say a last goodbye to her sister and play together one more time.

Her lack of closure has been explored in her therapy sessions. The therapist asks her to draw what she feels. Sometimes, an empty paper expresses everything she feels.

She told me:

I used to love playing with dolls with Shahed. After the massacre, I lost my interest in everything. I actually still have a small piece of my doll that I found under the rubble.

In her free time, when she is not in school, she feels the pressure, and the flashbacks come back. She tells me she is consumed with uncontrollable thoughts. Now she is enrolled in an additional school. The time spent studying is an attempt to escape from her memories.

The detachment may be helping. Recently, Shorouq told me:

I hung a drawing on the door in my room. It's a drawing of a warm home with open windows. Each morning, I look at that because it looks like peace.

Areej Alghazzawi is a junior accountancy student at the Islamic University of Gaza. She hopes to become a teacher and an accountant. She had one year left of her studies before Israel's attack put her hopes on hold.

Alghazzawi is currently displaced but still in Gaza and, along with her family members, struggling every day to survive.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

The mainstream media are choosing to ignore blatant anti-semitism and Islamophobia from Rupert Lowe's new racist party, Restore Britain.

Hey I wonder if this party unambiguous believing that Jewish people can't be British will receive much press attention. pic.twitter.com/j4dB7YuP2f

— linkshund (@linkshund) February 17, 2026

During an interview with Talk TV, Charlie Downes, campaigns director and spokesperson for Restore Britain, stated that Reform UK do not have a clear picture of who the British people are.

Then, in a follow-up post on X, Downes stated:

Restore Britain believe that Britain is a people defined by indigenous British ancestry and Christian faith.

Essentially, Restore Britain has shown itself to be anti-anything that isn't white Christian.

You've never clearly explained what British is

You say ethnicity, then waver into some cultural ties, then go to the way of life, then dip into religion, and end up with Christianity

Excuse me, Celtic Britons were there before. How do you dismiss that blood line?#RestoreGate https://t.co/QawK1tbNXw

— JustCallMeMum

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The post Help Us Get Over The Line On Kickstarter! appeared first on CleanTechnica.

This is the third and presumably final article in a series I'm doing on Tesla sales trends in a bunch of European countries in January. The first article explored year-over-year changes in sales and market share for Tesla. However, under that article, some readers suggested looking further back and examining ... [continued]

The post Tesla's Change in Market Share in 13 European Countries appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The Trump administration is looking for a deputy federal CIO, and theater fans need not apply.…