A new UK law to increase the punishment for anyone that commits violence against emergency service workers which unpredictably proves fatal, is unlikely to have any deterrent effect.

The writer suggests it is only an occasion for value signaling.

As long as people interact, society as a system continues to exist; but the social fabric can become more or less protective, and more or less constraining. Various movements have made claims about the causes of society's problems.

It seems to me that the success of Nordic democratic socialism, with societies that still cohere, demonstrates that neither liberal democracy nor socialism is inimical to the social fabric. My hypothesis is that what tears apart the social fabric is oppressive power, but the entity that exercises the power varies from situation to situation.

The US has a shortage of nitrogen fertilizer, partly caused by global heating effects.

Ahmaud Arbery fell victim to the systematic propensity to persecute black men, with methods that extend as far as murder. The conviction of his killers had to cross hurdles of systemic racism.

*The jailing of a young climate protester is a prime example of Australia's authoritarian drift.*

* There is an ongoing effort to restrict what is considered “legitimate” protest to that which is least effective.*