‘Ballet has the same appeal as Princess culture’: Alice Robb on how would-be ballerinas are taught to be thin, silent and submissive

Sarah Crompton
Tue, 7 March 2023

Alice Robb explores life as a student at the School of American Ballet in New York, in her new book (Nina Subin)

From the age of nine until the age of 12, Alice Robb was a student at the School of American Ballet in New York. She has the photographs and the psychological scars to prove it. She gave up ballet at the age of 15 and built a successful career as a journalist and writer. Yet it has defined her ever since.

Don’t Think, Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet is her ode to her long-lost dream of dancing with America’s leading ballet company, New York City Ballet, but also an attempt to understand and unravel the effect that early training had upon her – and the effects that it might have on all the little girls who long to be ballerinas.

“Ballet does not exist in a vacuum,” she writes in her introduction. “It is a laboratory of femaleness – a test-tube world in the middle of modern New York or London or Paris, in which traditional femininity is exaggerated. The traits ballet takes to an extreme – the beauty, the thinness, the stoicism and silence and submission – are valued in girls and women everywhere. By excavating the psyche of a dancer, we can understand the contradictions and challenges of being a woman today.”

The starting point for her book is a photograph she unearthed of her class at the School of American Ballet (SAB) when she was about 11 or 12. There are 20 girls in the picture, hair scraped back, backs erect, necks stretched. Of those, only one is still a professional dancer, but they were all marked and shaped by the years they tried to achieve their ambitions, suffering eating disorders, loss of confidence and profound depression.

In this they are not alone. She quotes a Teen Vogue survey that estimated that of the 300,000 girls who train at a professional level every year, with a serious intention of becoming ballerinas, only 2 per cent will make it into companies, and that’s not even taking account of all those who take up ballet recreationally. “I read a lot of ballet memoirs,” says Robb. “But they are stories of ballet success. The narrative tends to be there’s all this pain and sacrifice but look how it’s paid off. Yet all the people who almost make it are also making pretty much exactly the same sacrifices and going through the same amount of pain, so I think those stories are also worth telling.”

We are talking on Zoom because Robb is currently based in New York, though she is about to move to London where her boyfriend lives and works. She is an attractive 31-year-old, her mass of hair loosely tied back, her manner warm and interested. “Ballet still has such a hold on the feminine imagination,” she continues. “So many little girls go through a ballet phase, so I think it is like an under-explored, under-analysed part of femininity. It has the same appeal as Princess culture, but it’s more attainable.”

That was its original attraction for her. “I just loved the girliness of it,” she says with a grin. But she pursued her ambition with steely determination. She was turned down for SAB twice before she was accepted; she carried on dancing at different academies when she was thrown out, even when it became obvious that her body was developing in ways that made it impossible for her to pursue a professional career – her hips that continued to widen, her feet that refused to arch. For years afterwards, she would dream she was auditioning for a role, and suddenly feel the joy of thinking it was not too late, that she could still be a star.

It’s a level of obsession that she examines in minute detail, but why did it hold her in its grip for so long? “SAB was the real goal of my childhood,” she explains. “And although I was only there three years, it was also the summer programmes, the extra classes, the schools I attended afterwards. On top of that I was practising at home, stretching every day, trying to walk with my feet turned out, dancing every Saturday. Ballet really was my identity.

“I think I knew that there was something seductive about ballet and about the way I acted within ballet. I was definitely a shy kid as so many dancers are, and it was a relief at some level to just follow instructions. To know what the rules were even if you’re trying to do things that are physically very challenging, or even impossible.

“Whereas the world outside can feel like this scary free-for-all. Particularly when I was growing up, I think there was this pressure to take advantage of opportunities that previous generations of women hadn’t had access to. Ballet was a way to sidestep all that. Of course, we were all very ambitious, but there was some comfort in the rules, and the structure, the sense that there was a ladder of progress that you could just put one foot in front of the other and climb.”

Alice Robb’s ‘Don’t Think, Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet’ is her ode to her long-lost dream of dancing with America’s leading ballet company (source)

For each of her three years at ballet school, Robb was one of the children who performed in the professional production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at NYCB. “It was so powerful to be in such proximity with those professional dancers,” she adds. “I think that I still have this romantic, idealistic image that dancers are the ideal woman, beautiful, controlled but also powerful.”

Yet her book is a searing testimony that lays bare the cost of that ideal. Its pages are haunted by stories of suppression and pain. Its title is taken from a quotation by Balanchine, the Georgian-American choreographer who co-founded both the School of American Ballet (1934), and New York City Ballet (1948), where he was artistic director for an astonishing 35 years. Famously, he said “ballet is woman”, and his works were inspired by the dancers he was working with, who were very often the women he loved. He had five ballerina wives and gave each a signature scent. His dancers by and large adored him and aspired to be his muse, but he cultivated a style that prized an extremely low body weight. Robb quotes him telling one corps de ballet dancer: “You are like inside a cocoon; your true personality will only be revealed when all the fat is gone, and you are down to your bones.”

He died in 1983 but his ethos was continued by his successor Peter Martins who left the company in 2017 after allegations (which he denied) of sexual abuse came to light. And Balanchine’s dominant shadow still haunts Robb’s own idea of what it is to be a ballerina. That obsession with a certain body type has influenced the view of what a dancer should look like ever since; the constant exhortation of her classmates to “lengthen” and “tone up” were disguised messages that they should lose weight to dangerously low levels. Robb not only quotes examples of famous ballerinas starving themselves to achieve their ideal weight but talks about a classmate who ended up unable to digest solid food.

The glorification of thinness is a recurring theme, but it is also an amplification of obsessions in the world beyond dance. “You hear so many justifications,” Robb says. “Like ballet just looks better on a certain type of body or it’s so you can see the choreography. But these are all conventions. Ballet is made up. When I quit ballet, there was some element of relief in realising that I didn’t have to wear a leotard anymore, and it didn’t matter if I gained five pounds. But it wasn’t like I was going into a world where looks and weight didn’t matter. People are still applauded and rewarded for being thin.”



When I quit ballet, there was some element of relief in realising that I didn’t have to wear a leotard anymore, and it didn’t matter if I gained five pounds

It is not just body dysmorphia that Robb identifies as part of the cost of ballet, through stories of both famous and unknown dancers. She also recognises the way that ballet – and it is specifically ballet rather than other forms of dance – requires self-sacrifice, a setting aside of self, an endurance of all kinds of hardship, both physical and psychological. All are qualities valued in women, but all seen at their most extreme in ballet.

She talks about Margot Fonteyn, the greatest dancer of her own and many other ages, who was always at the beck and call of worthless men; of the American ballet star Gelsey Kirkland, principal dancer with NYCB and then with American Ballet Theater in the Seventies and Eighties, who drove herself to cocaine addiction in her attempt to prove herself worthy. She describes the way that ballet studios can easily be a breeding ground for abuse of young girls by powerful men and for the cultivation of low self-esteem among the girls who study there.

“When I think about why ballet had such an impact on me, I realise I was doing it at such a formative time,” she says. “You’re discovering who you are and how you relate to your body. Yet people would say all the time, your body is your instrument. That’s just a different way to relate to your body. You are objectifying yourself, learning to see your body as not exactly your own, but as something that is serving an art.”

It is compelling reading, but I wonder how much her view is tempered by it being seen through the perspective of Balanchine’s NYCB. “I think that company has had this somewhat specific struggle of how to carry on without Balanchine,” she says. “But I don’t think it’s that different. A lot about it is universal. I think ballet culture and training are pretty similar everywhere.”

For all her trenchant criticism, she clearly values ballet as an art form – though she admits she finds it hard to watch because “it can still put me in a funny mood. I am saying this with an awareness of how ridiculous it sounds because I was not particularly close to becoming a professional dancer, but it can make me feel nostalgia and regret over not making it.”

For each of her three years at ballet school, Robb was one of the children who performed in the professional production of George Balanchine’s ‘The Nutcracker’ at NYCB (Debra Goldsmith)

Towards the end of the book, too, she notes some signs of change and hope. Her classmates find different kinds of resolution in their relationship with ballet; her friend who suffered the most extreme eating disorders carries on dancing and enjoys the best and healthiest years of her career in a contemporary dance company. Robb goes to see Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet and notes a new inclusivity.

Robb admits that writing the book has been therapeutic for her. “I do think things are changing,” she admits. “But I didn’t focus on what is happening now because I wanted to look at the long-term impact of this training that happened to people in the 1990s.

“So yes, it is changing, you are starting to see different types of partnering, and non-binary dancers. Misty Copeland has done a lot to change the image of ballet, both in terms of her muscularity and also obviously her race. Social media has given professional dancers more power and more of a platform. But I do think ballet is still a very insular world, it’s still so competitive that people feel they can’t afford to speak out.”

Looking back, does she feel it gave her anything? “Oh yes,” she says smiling. “I do spend a fair amount of time talking about the negatives, but there were many positives as well. I think the most obvious one is probably the discipline of ballet. You have to show up for work every day. It sets you up for so many things. Even for being a freelance writer. I am intrinsically motivated, I show up.”

‘Don’t Think, Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet’, by Alice Robb, is out now

Japan's new H3 rocket fails again, forced to self-destruct


Hiroshi HIYAMA
Tue, 7 March 2023


Japan's second attempt to launch its next-generation H3 rocket failed after liftoff on Tuesday, with the spacecraft forced to self-destruct after the command centre concluded the mission could not succeed.

The failure is a blow for Japan's space agency JAXA, which has billed the rocket as a flexible and cost-effective new flagship.

Its launch had already been delayed by several years, and then a first attempt last month failed when the solid rocket boosters did not ignite.

Tuesday's launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan initially appeared to be a success, with the rocket lifting off.

The first-stage separation appeared to go as planned, but signs of trouble soon emerged.

"It seems that the velocity is coming down," announcers on the JAXA live feed said while the rocket was about 300 kilometres (185 miles) above ground.

The command centre then announced: "The second stage engine ignition has not been confirmed yet, we continue to confirm the situation."

The live feed was briefly halted, with a message reading, "We are currently checking the status. Please wait."

When it resumed, the command centre confirmed the bad news.

"Destruct command has been transmitted to H3 because there was no possibility of achieving the mission."

The rocket was not going to reach its planned trajectory without confirmation of the second stage engine, JAXA Vice President Yasuhiro Funo told a news conference.

Debris from the destroyed rocket is believed to have fallen in waters east of the Philippines, he said.

- 'Efforts to restore confidence' -

The cause of the failure will be investigated, said JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa.

"When a failure like this happens, it is important that we show how quickly we can move and show our findings with transparency," he said.

"My responsibility is to focus on discovering the cause and make efforts to restore confidence in our rockets.

The H3 rocket was developed for more frequent commercial launches as well as better cost efficiency and reliability and has been mooted as a possible competitor to Space X's Falcon 9.

"The H3 rocket is a very important rocket for not only the government of Japan but also for private sector businesses to access space," Yamakawa said.

JAXA has said it envisions the H3 becoming a workhorse that could be launched six times or so annually for around two decades.

There were no details on how long the investigation into the failure might take and whether or when JAXA could attempt a new launch.

Developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the H-3 is the successor to the H-IIA model, which debuted in 2001.

Tuesday's launch was carrying the ALOS-3 observation satellite, touted as having improved resolution and intended to help with disaster management and other monitoring.

The incident is not the only recent blow for JAXA.

In October 2022, the agency was forced to send a self-destruct order to its solid-fuel Epsilon rocket after take-off. It was carrying satellites into orbit to demonstrate new technologies.

That was Japan's first failed rocket launch since 2003.

The Epsilon rocket has been in service since 2013. It is smaller than the country's previous liquid-fuelled model, and a successor to the solid-fuel "M-5" rocket that was retired in 2006 due to its high cost.

hih-sah/pbt

WWII forced labour victims lash out at South Korea's 'dirty money' plan

Tue, 7 March 2023 


South Koreans who were forced to work for Japanese companies during World War II on Tuesday denounced Seoul's new plan to compensate them and end a historic dispute with Tokyo as "dirty money".

Seoul announced plans Monday to pay the victims with money taken from South Korean companies that benefited from a 1965 reparations deal, in a bid to break the "vicious cycle" in its relations with Tokyo.

Japan and the United States immediately welcomed the plan, which does not involve a fresh apology and envisages only voluntary contributions from the Japanese companies involved, such as Mitsubishi and Nippon Steel.

But victims' groups said it fell far short of their demand for a full apology from Japan and direct compensation from the companies involved.

"I am 95 years old and I don't know if I die today or tomorrow. But never in my life have I felt so distressed," Yang Geum-deok, who worked at a Mitsubishi factory during the war, said at a rally in Seoul.

"Even if I die of hunger, I would not accept that dirty money," she yelled, waving a placard that said: "Mitsubishi must apologise and compensate!"

Seoul aims to resolve lingering issues stemming from Japan's brutal 1910-45 occupation of the Korean peninsula as it seeks closer ties with Tokyo in the face of growing threats from North Korea.

Around 780,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced labour by Japan during the colonial period, according to data from Seoul.

That number does not include Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops.

"It was the Japanese who dragged us to Japan. Who do we turn to demand an apology?" said victim Kim Sung-joo at the rally, which was also attended by opposition politicians.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol defended the plan Tuesday, saying it was essential "for freedom, peace and prosperity, not only bilaterally but globally".

The two countries restored diplomatic ties with the signing of the 1965 treaty, which included a reparations package of about $800 million in grants and cheap loans.

Japan has long insisted that the agreement settled all claims relating to the colonial period.

It is unclear whether Japanese companies will make any contributions, with Nippon Steel saying Monday: "Our company's understanding is that this issue has been resolved by the 1965 agreement".

kjk/ceb/dhw/qan

UK

Forty-three times the Conservatives tried (and failed) to tackle Channel crossings

Archie Bland
Tue, 7 March 2023 

Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

On Tuesday, Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman will announce a new plan to deal with the small boats crisis. But from using the navy to threatening asylum seekers with detention in Moldova to sending jetskis on patrol, the Conservatives have not been short of schemes to deter those who plan to cross the Channel since the issue came to the top of the agenda in the last weeks of 2018. Here’s a guide to some of them.

2019: 1,843 people arrive by small boat crossings

January: Deploy more Border Force ships, work with France

The home secretary, Sajid Javid, promises two extra Border Force cutters to patrol the Channel, bringing the total to five. On a visit to Dover, Javid says: “If you do somehow make it to the UK, we will do everything we can to make sure that you are often not successful.” This will become familiar. Meanwhile, France and the UK agree a coordinated plan to reduce crossings with more French surveillance and security on the coastline. This will also become familiar.

August: Work with France, warn people making the crossing: ‘We will send you back’

Boris Johnson tells those attempting to cross: “We will send you back … If you come illegally, you are an illegal migrant.” Meanwhile, the new home secretary, Priti Patel, holds new talks with her French counterpart.

2020: 8,466 people arrive by small boat crossings

July: Work with France, invest more in border security, create new ‘intelligence cell’

Priti Patel meets the French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin; the pair “reaffirm their shared commitment to returning boats in the Channel to France”. They announce a “joint intelligence cell, which will crack down on the gangs”. A £705m investment in borders before Brexit is announced, including new money for security.

August: Use the navy to force boats back, appoint a new ‘clandestine Channel threat commander’

Patel tells MPs she intends to use the navy to block crossings before boats can enter British waters. A defence official calls the idea “completely potty”, a view it retains 18 months later. She also appoints Dan O’Mahoney as clandestine Channel threat commander, tasking him with making France strengthen enforcement measures.

September: House asylum seekers in barracks, patrol on jet skis, send asylum seekers to Moldova or Papua New Guinea

The local MP Damian Collins reveals that people who have made the crossing will be housed in a former barracks near Folkestone in Kent. Meanwhile, the Home Office sets out plans to buy two jet skis to help with patrols (£). The former Border Force head Tony Smith warns that such plans are “highly dangerous”.

Later in September, the Guardian reveals that plans are under consideration to send asylum seekers to third countries for processing, with options including Moldova, Morocco and Papua New Guinea. This eventually becomes the Rwanda plan. The Home Office is already warning of the “significant” legal, diplomatic and practical obstacles to the idea.

October: Be ‘firm and fair’, stop ‘endless legal claims’

In her party conference speech, Patel says she will make it harder to appeal against asylum decisions and “expedite the removal of those who have no legitimate claim for protection”. She bemoans “decades of inaction by successive governments”.

November: Prosecute asylum seekers for steering dinghies, work with France

It emerges that new Crown Prosecution Service guidance allows asylum seekers to be prosecuted for steering dinghies as they make the crossing, even if they have no links to organised crime groups. Campaigners criticise the government for describing those steering the boats with no financial benefit as “people smugglers”. Meanwhile, the UK and France sign an agreement, agree to double French police patrols on the coastline, and promise to make the crossing unviable.

December: Facebook ads to warn would-be migrants against making the crossing, deny entry to anyone passing through safe third country

O’Mahoney announces a “social media blitz” of ads geo-targeted on the French coastline that will warn people they risk prosecution for steering boats. He says the government is “determined to make this route completely unviable”. It later emerges that three months’ worth of ads cost £90,000. Meanwhile, immigration rules are quietly changed to bar anyone who has travelled through a safe third country – such as France – from claiming asylum. There are immediate warnings that this is against international law, and enforced returns have since fallen.

2021: 28,526 people arrive by small boat crossings

People picked up at sea, after attempting to cross the Channel, are helped ashore from an RNLI lifeboat at Dungeness on the south-east coast of England. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

March: Reduce rights for those crossing the Channel

Details of a consultation on Patel’s immigration plan reveal that those deemed to have arrived in the UK illegally will not have the same rights as those taking legal routes (of which there are very few for the vast majority of potential asylum seekers). Patel also proposes to speed up removals.

June: Ban social media posts ‘glamourising’ crossings

Patel tells social media companies they will face heavy fines if they do not remove clips that “promote and even glamourise these lethal crossings”. No fines have yet been levied.

July: Offshore centres for asylum seekers, new criminal charges, block visas for countries refusing to take back asylum seekers, bone scanners to detect age of asylum applicants, work with France

After the consultation, Patel introduces the nationality and borders bill and sets out a batch of measures that she calls the “biggest overhaul of the UK’s asylum system in decades”. Later that month, she agrees another £55m to fund French border patrols.

August: Publish a new advice website

The Home Office is censured for producing an “unethical website” that gives asylum seekers advice such as: “It is safer and easier to apply for asylum in the country you’re in now” – without making it clear that the government is behind it.

November: New policy review, work with France, annoy France

As the bill makes its way through parliament, an “exasperated” Johnson orders a new review to find novel ways of cutting the number of crossings. Meanwhile, France warns it will not be a “punchbag” for British politicians. But France and the UK agree to pursue an exciting new strategy to “prevent 100% of crossings”. The UK publishes a five-point plan for talks on Twitter instead of communicating privately with France, and Patel is disinvited from further talks.

December: Make asylum seekers wear tags on arrival in the UK, ask small boats to contact France for rescue

Reports emerge suggesting that Patel will set out a plan to make working-age people wear tags, thereby making it harder for them to seek employment in the UK. This follows reports that the British coastguard is regularly telling passengers on stricken small boats to contact France instead.

2022: 45,756 people arrive by small boat crossings

April: Send asylum seekers to Rwanda

The government sets out its plan to send tens of thousands of unauthorised migrants to Rwanda for processing. Almost a year later, nobody has yet been sent, and the plans remain on hold. But Sunak and Liz Truss say during their respective Conservative leadership campaigns that they want more Rwanda-style deals.

September: New plan to restart ‘pushbacks’ of small boats, aim to reduce crossings to zero, tell civil servants to watch more reality TV

Documents released under freedom of information laws reveal the government wants to restore its previous policy of forcing those crossing to go back to France. Meanwhile, the new home secretary, Braverman, causes consternation in the Home Office by saying she wants to reduce the number of crossings to zero. She also tells officials to watch more “trashy TV” for the good of their mental health.

October: Work with France, blame asylum seekers

After Braverman’s notorious comment comparing those making the crossing to an “invasion”, she signs a £63m deal with France to increase patrols. It is the fourth such deal in three years. Sunak says he is “confident” numbers will be reduced. Later, when Braverman is asked about governmental failings over the crisis at the Manston processing centre, she says: “It’s the people who are breaking our rules … that’s who’s at fault.”

December: Blame civil servants

Braverman tells a committee of MPs that the backlog of asylum claims is the result of civil servants’ failure to work quickly enough. “Our asylum case-working team do a great job but their productivity, frankly, is too low,” she says.

2023: 2,950 people arrive by small boat crossings so far

January: Keep people-smugglers off social media, monitor asylum seekers, suggest children could be sent to Rwanda

After familiar suggestions on social media and an update of ankle tags to GPS tracking devices, Robert Jenrick, an immigration minister, suggests ruling out sending families to Rwanda could encourage traffickers to bring them across the Channel instead of single males. “There’s not necessarily a bar to families being removed to Rwanda,” he says.

February: Leave the European convention on human rights (ECHR), use questionnaires to clear asylum backlog

The Guardian reports that several ministers want to leave the ECHR, which is blamed for the failure of the Rwanda scheme. Sunak is reported to be considering the move. Meanwhile, plans to replace official interviews for asylum seekers with questionnaires – which will leave claimants risking refusal if they do not reply in English within 20 days – prompt the backbencher Bob Neill to ask: “If Conservatives don’t believe in the rule of law, what do we believe in? Are we going to put ourselves in the same company as Russia and Belarus?”

Age and wisdom? 1 in 9 seniors say they still don't have life figured out

Although age brings wisdom, one in nine Americans 64 and older still don’t have life figured out, according to new research. A survey of 2,000 Americans 64 and older dispelled the idea that older people have all of the answers, although more than half said that everyone expects them to (57%). Fifty-four percent of respondents even said they feel like there’s “always” or “often” pressure on them to make the best decisions, and nearly a fifth agree that decision-making is actually harder as they get older (17%). One in seven admit they tend to prioritize their wants over their needs, which is where they could use some outside help. Two-thirds of seniors said they consult others before making a big decision (67%), but this isn’t always an easy task. Twenty-six percent said relying on others is one of the scariest parts of aging (26%). Conducted by OnePoll for ClearMatch Medicare, the survey found that seniors used to feel most confident about making large financial purchases (29%) and investing (28%) on their own, but would now consult others about those decisions beforehand (31%, 35% respectively). Respondents said they’d also ask for help when it comes to facets of their health like choosing a healthcare plan (27%) or changing their diet (18%). To help them make decisions, seniors are most likely to trust their partner (44%), revealing that they’re the least judgmental (31%) and most helpful (32%) person in their life. Others also put their trust in their children (37%) and friends (29%). Seniors have struggled to find their “perfect match” in different areas of their lives over the past five years. Even when seeking help, 40% have found themselves in a situation where they committed to something that wasn’t right for them within the past five years. Respondents struggle with different parts of everyday life such as finding a workout routine that suits their needs (20%) or nailing down their own style (17%). Health concerns such as finding the right healthcare (20%) and doctor (19%) are also high on their list of instances where they struggle to find “the one.” “Let’s face it, as we get older, making an informed Medicare decision is crucial for your health and financial well-being,” explains Ben Pajak, CEO of ClearMatch Medicare (a part of HealthPlanOne). “But no one should feel alone when making such an important decision. There are options to help you make the right choice; whether you rely on someone you trust or professionals who understand different plans, you can ensure you choose the best coverage options that meet your unique healthcare needs and budget.” When making these tough choices, mistakes do happen. The average American 64 and older admitted they make the same mistake twice before they learn from it, even leading them to feel “buyer’s remorse” three times within the past year. Seniors struggle to learn from their mistakes when they overthink the outcome (22%) and can’t figure out what went wrong (21%), while others find it hard to even accept that they were wrong (18%) and struggle to find a workable solution (17%). In the case of making mistakes, respondents shared the top three things to take away: understanding what didn’t work (28%), recognizing what could have been done better (28%) and keeping an open mind (23%). To help them make the right decision, seniors shared that they wish they could have test-drove their apartment (18%), life path (22%) and even their doctor (23%) before making a decision. If they had the chance, 67% of seniors said they’d change their health insurance after realizing their plan wasn’t a match for them. “It’s clear that seniors are constantly on the hunt to find their ‘perfect match’ in all areas of life,” said Jennifer Girdler, vice president of sales at HealthPlanOne. “In fact, 55% of those who have health insurance said they'd jump on a ‘second chance’ to switch their plan to one that better suits them in 60 days or less. Many people might not know, but the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment period, which currently runs through March 31, is the time to help those in a Medicare Advantage plan make one more change before the fall annual enrollment period. This is your second chance at finding the right match.”

AUSTRALIA

AHRC targets robodebt, Covid policies and indefinite detention in push for federal human rights act


Paul Karp
Tue, 7 March 2023 

Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The Australian Human Rights Commission has taken aim at the robodebt program, indefinite detention and Covid policies in a new report setting out a model for a federal Human Rights Act.

According to the AHRC, a Human Rights Act could have provided safeguards to help prevent robodebt, and the “abandonment” and “potential endangerment” of Australians overseas during the pandemic.

The report, released on Tuesday evening, calls for the AHRC to gain new powers to conciliate human rights complaints, in the same way it does for discrimination complaints. Where possible, courts would be required to interpret legislation in line with the Human Rights Act.

The report also proposes additional rights to claim compensation in court for some infringements, including wrongful conviction and unjust detention, although courts could not strike down laws merely for breaching the act.

Related: Malcolm Turnbull tells robodebt inquiry ‘I did not turn my mind to the legality of the program’

The set of rights the AHRC proposes to enshrine in federal law include: equality before the law; the right to life; protection of children and families; privacy; freedoms of movement, association and expression; freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief; rights to education, health, an adequate standard of living, to access social security and a healthy environment.

Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland currently have human rights laws, but Australia is the only liberal democracy that does not have an act or charter of rights at the national level.

The AHRC president, Rosalind Croucher, said in her forward to the report that “some argue that our rights and freedoms are protected well enough without one” but “our experience with Covid-19 responses challenges that assertion”.

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In a section on concerns with Australia’s Covid-19 policy response, the AHRC said that “unprecedented” border closures and travel caps “effectively [prevented] thousands of Australian citizens from re-entering Australia”.

“These policies resulted in the potential for physical endangerment of Australians overseas; extended periods of family separation; high financial costs associated with inflated travel prices, accommodation abroad and mandated hotel quarantine upon return to Australia; lost employment opportunities; and mental health impacts.”

The AHRC also cited concerns about “inequities” in the vaccine rollout, with vulnerable groups including First Nations people, people with a disability and prisoners left behind; increased police enforcement powers; and use of regulations “without legislative oversight or review”.

The report argued that a Human Rights Act could have provided “a check on executive power by drawing lines that should not be crossed – such as locking vulnerable citizens out of their own country”.

Related: Australia condemned for indefinitely ‘locking up’ Iranian political dissident

It would also have helped prevent “emergency measures from becoming the ‘new normal’”, “the most vulnerable from falling through the cracks” and “arbitrary decisions and blanket rules” like refusing to allow “a person to cross a border to bury a family member, or an elderly person to receive a visitor”.

The AHRC said that the robodebt case study of “inaccurate Centrelink debt notices” demonstrated that “many of the worst (and most financially costly) human rights failures in Australia arise out of a failure to consult with affected groups”.

It cited the $1.8bn settlement by the commonwealth in the robodebt class action as evidence that “dealing with human rights issues early has obvious economic benefits”.

Croucher said that “a Human Rights Act would have meant public servants had a legal duty to consider the human rights impacts of the scheme”.

In her forward, Crouch argued that the fact “indefinite administrative detention is not unlawful under our existing laws suggests why our current protections … are just not enough”.

Related: Stuart Robert admits publicly defending robodebt debacle despite personal misgivings

The report noted the 2004 high court decision in Al Kateb, in which a majority of the justices found an asylum seeker whose claim for protection had been rejected could be “detained until he could be removed from Australia, regardless of the fact that there was no reasonable prospect of this happening in the foreseeable future”.

The case was set to be relitigated in the high court in early 2023 by an Egyptian man, Tony Sami, whose visa was cancelled due to a fraud conviction. In 2017 the AHRC found that Sami’s detention was arbitrary.

The Albanese government refused to grant Sami a visa and he is being deported without his consent on Wednesday.

Sami, who arrived in Australia in 2000, said he is “going back to a country that I don’t know anybody and I have nothing”.

In the report, the AHRC noted there is currently “no requirement on the government to take action in response to a finding by the commission that there has been a breach of human rights”.

“In many cases, no action is taken, particularly where the findings of the commission conflict with government policy, such as the mandatory and indefinite detention of asylum seekers.”

This left human rights complainants “at the end of a pathway with nowhere to go” with a “non-binding report which may not be effective in achieving individual justice or reform”.

Lights could go out in London as workers at electricity grid announce strike action

Emilia Kettle
Tue, 7 March 2023 

The electricity grid company that serves London has announced strike action taking place in March and April 2023. (Image: PA)

Workers at UK Power Networks (UKPN) have announced strike action, which could see lights go off in London.

The company ensures that lights stay on across the capital as well as areas including Kent and East Anglia.

The strike action comes after employers rejected a pay deal seeing a ballot of 1,300 members of the Unite trade union come out against the offer.


The offer set by the company would have seen a pay increase of 18% over two years.

Unite disputed this figure, saying that workers have in the past been offered a Retail Price Index inflation-busting pay rise, and that this deal would see their real-term pay cut substantially.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “UKPN’s profiteering, which has seen it continue to rake in astronomical profits as millions of families dread the arrival of their next energy bill, is a prime example of why Britain’s economy is broken.

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“Our members at UKPN, like the rest of ordinary working families across the UK, are also struggling with rocketing energy bills.

“Despite its astronomical profits, the company has decided to offer its workers a real terms pay cut. Unite will fight attacks on our members’ pay, terms or conditions. UK Power Networks can afford to put forward an acceptable offer and this is what needs to happen.”
UK Power Network employers to take strike action

UK Power Networks serves around 8.3 million customers across London, the East and South East.

UKPN said Unison and Prospect, two of its other unions, had accepted the offer, and GMB, its final union, had not balloted members.

“We believe our record offer of a projected 18% pay rise and additional benefits is a fair and generous one,” UKPN said.

“We are deeply disappointed that Unite members have voted in favour of strike action. The offer remains on the table and we hope Unite will follow Prospect and Unison in accepting it, which we believe is in the best interests of our employees.”

The offer would have given staff a 7% pay rise effective from last April in addition to another rise based on inflation, which is expected to be 11.1%.

UKPN said the risk that customers’ electricity supply would be disrupted was still low.

“The company has robust contingency plans in place for all reasonable scenarios, including industrial action,” it said.

The high seas are supposed to belong to everyone – a new UN treaty aims to make it law

Robert Blasiak, Research Fellow in Ocean Management, Stockholm University 

 Cymie Payne, Associate Professor of Human Ecology and Law, Rutgers University

The Conversation
Tue, 7 March 2023

Kisova Elena/Shutterstock

It may come as a surprise to fellow land-dwellers, but the ocean actually accounts for most of the habitable space on our planet. Yet a big chunk of it has been left largely unmanaged. It’s a vast global common resource, and the focus of a new treaty called the biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement.

For 15 years, UN member states have been negotiating rules that will apply to the ocean lying more than 200 nautical miles from coastlines, including the seabed and the air space above, referred to as the “high seas”.

Covering nearly half the Earth’s surface, the high seas are shared by all nations under international law, with equal rights to navigate, fish and conduct scientific research. Until now, only a small number of states have taken advantage of these opportunities.

This new agreement is supposed to help more countries get involved by creating rules for more fairly sharing the rewards from new fields of scientific discovery. This includes assisting developing countries with research funding and the transfer of technology.

Countries that join the treaty must also ensure that they properly assess and mitigate any environmental impacts from vessels or aircraft in the high seas under their jurisdiction. This will be especially relevant for novel activities like removing plastic.

Once at least 60 states have ratified the agreement (this may take three years or more), it will be possible to establish marine protected areas (MPAs) in high sea locations of special value.

This could protect unique ecosystems like the Sargasso Sea: a refuge of floating seaweed bounded by ocean currents in the north Atlantic which offers breeding habitat for countless rare species. By restricting what can happen at these sites, MPAs can help marine life persevere against climate change, acidification, pollution and fishing.

There are obstacles to all nations participating in the shared enjoyment and protection of the high seas, even with this new treaty. Nations joining the new agreement will need to work with existing global organisations such as the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which regulates shipping, as well as regional fisheries management organisations.

The new treaty encourages consultation and cooperation with existing bodies, but states will need to balance their commitments with those made under other agreements. Already, some departments within governments work against each other when implementing broad, international treaties. For example, one division may chafe at greenhouse gas pollution regulations imposed at the IMO while a sister agency advocates for more stringent climate change measures elsewhere.
A new research frontier

A key element of the new treaty addresses the disproportionate ability of developed countries to benefit from the scientific knowledge and commercial products derived from genetic samples taken from the high seas. More than 40 years ago, when the law of the sea convention was being negotiated, the same issue arose over seabed minerals in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Industrialised nations had the technology to explore and intended to eventually mine these minerals, while developing countries did not. At that time, nations agreed that these resources were part of the “common heritage of humankind” and created the International Seabed Authority to manage a shared regime for exploiting them.

The extreme conditions for life in the open ocean have nurtured a rich diversity of survival strategies, from the bacteria that thrive in the extremely hot hydrothermal vents of the deep sea to icefish that breed in the intense cold of the Southern Ocean off Antarctica. These life forms carry potentially valuable information in their genes, known as marine genetic resources.

Icefish genes may hold the key to new medicines. Marrabbio2

This new agreement provides developing states, whether coastal or landlocked, with rights to the benefits of marine genetic resources. It does not establish an administrative body comparable to that created for seabed mining, however. Instead, non-monetary benefits, such as access to samples and digital sequence information, will be shared and researchers from all countries will be able to study them for free.

Economic inequality between countries will still determine who can access these samples to a large extent, and sharing DNA sequencing data will be further complicated by the convention on biological diversity, another global treaty. The BBNJ agreement will establish a financial mechanism for sharing the monetary benefits of marine genetic resources, though experts involved in the negotiations are still parsing what it will eventually look like.

The best hope for robust marine protected areas and equitable use of marine genetic resources lies in rapid implementation of the BBNJ agreement. But making it effective will depend on how its provisions are interpreted in each country and what rules of procedure are established. In many ways, the hard work is beginning.

Although areas beyond national jurisdiction are remote for most people they generate the air you breathe, the food you eat and moderate the climate. Life exists throughout the ocean, from the surface to the seabed. Ensuring it benefits everyone living today, as well as future generations, will depend on this next phase of implementing the historic treaty.


This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Cymie Payne is affiliated with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Robert Blasiak is funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Walton Family Foundation and has contributed in an unpaid capacity to the work of the United Nations Global Compact.

Scientists decode why people are scared of clowns

Vishwam Sankaran
Mon, 6 March 2023

A new study about the fear of clowns aims to reveal why people are scared of the performers whose entire purpose is to make their audience laugh.

The fear of clowns, or coulrophobia, is something that has been widely reported in both adults and children across several cultures.

In the new research, published recently in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, scientists from the University of South Wales assessed data from an international survey of nearly 1,000 adult participants from 64 countries and found that more than half of the respondents reported having some degree of coulrophobia.


About 5 per cent of the respondents said they were “extremely afraid” of clowns – a number reportedly higher than that for other phobias like heights, animals, or closed spaces.

Exaggerated facial features of clowns and makeup hiding emotional signals are the main reasons people fear them, according to the study. Another reason cited was the negative portrayals of clowns in popular culture, like that of the character of Pennywisein Stephen King’s It.

Another factor that attracted one the highest ratings among survey respondents was the alleged unpredictable behaviour of clowns.

Researchers pointed out that the lowest level of agreement among participants was fear stemming from a frightening personal experience with clowns.

Scientists suspect it may not be any of the individual elements that may be frightening itself, “but rather the juxtaposition of these features”.

They said the “uncanny valley effect” – due to clowns not appearing entirely like humans in appearance – compounded by makeup that completely covers the skin may be some of factors that play out in combination to induce fear among people.

Researchers also suspect the redness on the makeup, “reminiscent of disease and contagion”, could play a part in striking fear among adults and children.

“These factors can combine to give a clown an appearance of deformity, to which (sadly, but nevertheless unavoidably) humans have a natural reaction of revulsion and fear,” they wrote and called for future research to provide a stronger test of these hypotheses.

They said research assessing participants and measuring their subsequent reactions as they viewed clown images as well as varying makeup and hair colours on them could offer fresh insights on the phobia.

Citing some limitations of the study, researchers said while about 54 per cent of the participants self reported having some degree of fear of clowns, the study did not assess whether the respondents would meet the diagnostic criteria for a specific phobia.

Scientists said future research should consider other factors associated with “co-occurring mental health conditions”.

In future studies, researchers also hoped to unravel if people with their faces painted as animals tend to induce the same kind of fear or if the clown makeups particularly have fear-inducing properties.

“In conclusion, this study is the first to investigate the aetiology of clown fear and to consider competing explanations of the origins of this phenomena,” they added.

Legend may be true as Roman shrine found under Leicester Cathedral


Sarah Knapton
Tue, 7 March 2023 

Archaeologists have found the remains of a Roman place of worship at Leicester Cathedral

For centuries rumours have abounded that Leicester Cathedral was built on the site of a Roman temple.

Now, the source of the folklore may have been uncovered.

Archaeologists working at the cathedral have discovered evidence of a Roman shrine hidden beneath the structure, which may have been used by worshippers of a fertility or mystery cult.


The small chamber, 13ft by 13ft, was painted and contained an altar stone where sacrifices to the pantheon of Roman gods may have taken place.

It means that the Christian site may have been chosen because it was already a sacred location for pagans, and that worship has been happening at the spot for 1,800 years.

Mathew Morris, project officer at University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) who led the excavations, said: “Given the combination of a subterranean structure with painted walls and the altar we have found, one interpretation, which seemed to grow in strength as we excavated more, could be that this was a room linked with the worship of a god or gods.

“For centuries there has been a tradition that a Roman temple once stood on the site of the present Cathedral. This folktale gained wide acceptance in the late 19th century when a Roman building was discovered during the rebuilding of the church tower.

“The origins of this story have always been unclear but given that we’ve found a potential Roman shrine, along with burials deliberately interred into the top of it after it’s been demolished, and then the church and its burial ground on top of that, are we seeing a memory of this site being special in the Roman period that has survived to the present day?"

The remains of an altar stone and evidence of sacrifice have been found

The archaeologists believe the room was a private place of worship of either a family, or a cult room where a small group would meet together.

Similarly, underground chambers like this have often been linked with fertility and mystery cults and the worship of gods such as Mithras, Cybele, Bacchus, Dionysius and the Egyptian goddess Isis.

No evidence of an inscription survived on our altar, so it is unclear which gods were being honoured. Excavations have been ongoing ahead of the construction of a new heritage centre in the Cathedral Gardens.

In the final stages of the dig, when the team was ten feet down, they uncovered evidence of a well-made semi-subterranean structure with painted stone walls and a concrete floor.

The sunken room was probably built in the 2nd century AD, when Leicester was the roman town Ratae Corieltavorum and was deliberately dismantled and infilled, probably in the late 3rd or 4th century.

Within that space, lying broken and face down amidst the rubble, they also found the base to an altar stone, carved from local Dane Hills sandstone and measuring approximately ten inches by six inches, with decorative mouldings on three sides.

The back is plain, showing that it would have been placed against a wall. Archaeologists believe it would have originally stood around 2ft tall but it is broken mid-shaft and the upper part of the pedestal and the capital are missing.

Leicester was called Ratae Corieltavorum during the Roman era

Their excavations also uncovered over 1,100 burials ranging in date from the 11th century through to the mid-19th century.

John Thomas, deputy director at ULAS, said: “This excavation has produced a remarkable amount of archaeological evidence from a modestly sized area. The project allowed us to venture into an area of Leicester that we rarely have the opportunity to investigate, and it certainly did not disappoint.

“Fortunately, the archaeology was very well-preserved and whilst there is still a lot of analysis work still to do, we are confident that we’ll be able to address all of our questions and more.

“We’ll have a much clearer idea of what was happening on the site in the Roman period, when the parish church of St. Martins was founded, and a unique insight into the story of Leicester through its residents who were buried here for over 800 years.”