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A PR firm that works with Netflix and Starbucks quietly advised clients to 'not take a stance' on abortion rights, a report says



Pro-choice signs hang on a police barricade at the Supreme Court Building.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Jyoti Mann
Sat, May 7, 2022, 

PR firm Zeno advised clients to stay quiet on abortion rights, Popular Information reported.

A leaked email shows Zeno told clients the topic was a "textbook 50/50" issue.

Zeno told Insider the "50/50" comment was poorly worded and the email didn't accurately reflect its advice.

Public relations firm Zeno quietly advised clients to remain quiet on the draft Supreme Court document that seeks to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Popular Information newsletter reported.

Zeno, whose roster of clients includes Netflix, Starbucks, and Coca-Cola, according to the newsletter, circulated a template email internally to share with its clients. The email reportedly told clients to "steer clear" of news outlets, asking them to "not take a stance" and "avoid media fishing," Popular Information reported.

The email comes after a draft Supreme Court opinion that could seek to overturn Roe v. Wade – a landmark ruling that protects women's right to abortions – was leaked on May 3. If the legislation is overturned it could mean abortion becoming illegal in 23 states.

Zeno, part of the PR giant Edelman, seemingly told clients to "not engage" with the media on its company's position on the issue and said the first company to speak out and make their view known "becomes the lead," per Popular Information.

"This topic is a textbook "50/50" issue. Subjects that divide the country can sometimes be no-win situations for companies because regardless of what they do they will alienate at least 15 to 30 percent of their stakeholders," the email sent by a Zeno executive reportedly said.

"Do not assume that all of your employees, customers or investors share your view," the email reportedly added.

Many companies have already been vocal on the issue as a growing list, including Tesla, Amazon, Apple, Yelp, and Citi, said it would reimburse employees for travel costs if they were seeking abortions.

A Zeno spokesperson told Insider: "Albeit a poor choice of words, the company referring to 'a "50/50" case' was a phrase meant to describe the divisiveness and partisanship tied to controversial issues, and not meant to represent an actual percentage of US sentiment on this issue."

The company said the leaked email did not "accurately reflect" the advice it's giving clients and that the company believes it's a "woman's right" to make their own healthcare decisions.

An Insider investigation found that agencies in 13 states that have abortion "trigger" laws are not prepared for how to implement a ban. They are also not planning for what could happen if the ruling is reversed, per the investigation.

Transgender advocates say the end of Roe would have dire consequences



Olivia McCormack, 

(c) 2022, The Washington Post
Fri, May 6, 2022, 

In the days since Politico published a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, conversations about women's reproductive health have abounded. But many transgender men and trans-masculine nonbinary people say they feel left out of the conversation.

On Tuesday, Alex Petrovnia, 25, took to Twitter to express his frustration. "It is so bitter to be excluded from conversations about reproductive care as a trans man, especially as we have been raising the alarms for this very eventuality for years," he wrote.

About a year ago, Petrovnia founded the Trans Formations Project, an organization that provides information about anti-trans legislation and helps individuals identify which state representatives to contact. "For trans people, the crisis has been ongoing," Petrovnia said in an interview.

Access to reproductive health care is a matter very close to Petrovnia, he said: He and his husband, who is also a trans man, have been trying to get hysterectomies for the past two years. With an impending move to St. Louis, Petrovnia feels it's crucial that they get them now.

"This is going to kill people. This is going to kill trans people," he said of the possibility of Roe getting overturned. "Not only through people having to carry pregnancies that they don't want - but many, many trans people get their [hormone therapy] and get other essential medical care through facilities that are going to be shut down."

If Roe is overturned, a majority of people of childbearing age would face new abortion limits. But advocates say that difficulties accessing care are compounded for those in the transgender community - many report facing stigma or discrimination navigating the health-care system. And for trans people of color and low-income trans people, in particular, curbing access to abortion care could result in dire consequences for people's physical and mental health, according to advocates.

Oliver Hall, a trans-masculine nonbinary person, had a self-managed abortion at 19. They said that if they had gone through the traditional health-care system, they would've had to go to the women's surgical center - which they said "signaled to me I was going to have a bad experience, being trans-masculine" - get an ultrasound and be counseled on their other options for the pregnancy.

"That was not something I was willing to go through," they said.

Now 27, Hall is the trans health director for the reproductive justice organization Kentucky Health Justice Network, which helps trans and nonbinary people navigate the health-care system.

Their organization provides patients financial support for abortions, including lodging, child care and transportation, Hall said. It is preparing to continue to provide this care to trans people in Kentucky, no matter the Supreme Court decision, they added.

"If Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion will be automatically illegal in the state of Kentucky, so we're trying to raise a large amount of money to be able to get people to other states, like Illinois, where they will still be able to access abortion care," Hall said.

Right now, state-mandated counseling and a waiting period mean that many people have to take multiple days off work and find transportation for appointments, according to Hall.

That means access is already difficult for trans people, Hall said, noting that trans people are more likely to live in poverty and be unemployed or underemployed, and are less likely to have insurance.

"All bad health-care policy disproportionately affects trans people," Hall said.

Another difficulty for trans men, in particular, is misinformation about the risk of pregnancy while on hormone therapy, according to Hall. "A lot of doctors give patients the impression that you are infertile after a certain point of being on testosterone, which is absolutely incorrect," Hall said. "So people aren't thinking they need to be taking a pregnancy test even if they've been having unprotected sex, because they don't know that it's a possibility."

Quinn Jackson, 33, a trans man and family medicine physician in Kansas City, Kan., said that while testosterone reduces hormones that cause ovulation, it's not "reliable enough at stopping ovulation to be considered contraception."

Jackson was an abortion provider for two years before he took his current job. He said he doesn't think cisgender people understand the fear that many trans people experience when seeking medical care and obtaining abortions.

"I wish people knew how hard it is, and how scary it is, to access medical care when you're trans," Jackson said. "And how really terrifying it can be and stressful it can be to worry about how you're going to be treated and how you're going to be perceived."

According to one study, about 30 percent of transgender people reported delaying or discontinuing seeking care because of fear of discrimination, and approximately 1 in 4 transgender people said they were denied equal treatment in health-care settings.

Kristofer Thomas, a 24-year-old trans man and screenwriter living in New York City, has been following state bills that seek to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender people. When he learned about one of the proposals to ban hormone therapy for minors, he said he thought, "We are first, and then everyone is going to fall in line. Next is Roe v. Wade and Obergefell."

He had been planning on getting bottom surgery and a hysterectomy but wants to accelerate those plans now, he added.

Emmett Schelling, a 41-year-old trans man and executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, said that the risks facing trans people are dire.

"The people who actually burn when everything burns down are people like me, are Black trans women, are queer kids who have been kicked out on the streets by their family," he said. "[They] are at enormous risk for sexual assault, for physical assault, for a lifetime of poverty, a lifetime of lack of health-care access."

In his time at the Transgender Education Network of Texas, Schelling said his organization has been approached by trans men and nonbinary people seeking safe means to obtain abortions. According to Schelling, even before Texas's six-week abortion ban went into effect, it has been increasingly difficult for individuals to find abortion care in Texas, especially trans men.

That's largely because, Schelling said, trans people's stake in abortion access "has been erased."

As he put it: "What happens when you leave out any people who are affected and impacted directly and deeply, by any piece of policy? ... It produces gaps in strategy, it produces gaps in the understanding of the impact and the effects, and it produces gaps in galvanizing cohesive power."

Brazilian activist says Mexico detained her over 'transvestite' identity




Transgender woman deported from Mexico speaks in Sao Paulo


Fri, May 6, 2022,

(Reuters) -Keila Simpson, a Brazilian activist for trans people and those who identify as "transvestites," says she was detained and denied entry to Mexico City's international airport last Sunday because authorities objected to the discrepancy between her appearance and the name in her passport.

The 57-year-old activist and president of Brazil's Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (Antra) had been set to attend the 2022 World Social Forum - a gathering of LGBTQ, indigenous and environmental activists - in the Mexican capital. But Simpson says she was detained after showing a passport with her former name, which airport staff allegedly called an "incongruity" with her appearance.

In Brazil, a person can change their social name without the need to change their sex, according to a 2018 Supreme Court ruling. But the choice to do so is up to the individual. Simpson, who identifies as a transvestite and not transgender, had not changed hers.

Simpson told Reuters she had been detained for 10 hours and was not allowed access to her lawyer.

Mexico's Migration entity said in a statement that Simpson did not state the requested information upon arrival, like where she would stay, the activities she was going to participate in and her return ticket information.

"The immigration authority acted based on the law and unrestricted respect for the human rights of migrants, regardless of their ethnic or national origin, sex, age, religion or gender identity," it added.

But Simpson's lawyer, Gustavo Coutinho, said she had all the required documentation with her and that other members of her delegation were granted entry with the same documents.

Mexico's foreign ministry declined comment.

"My documents had my original name, and that's my identity (transvestite). The photo in my passport is new, and it is valid until 2028," added Simpson, who lives in Brazil's northeastern city of Salvador.

While the term "transvestite" is regarded as offensive in many Western countries, in Brazil it refers to a person whose gender identity does not fit into the two commonly used male and female ones - in contrast to transgender people who may go through a transition process.

"The only thing I have that identifies me as a transvestite is my ID," she said. "If I change it, I would erase myself as a transvestite."

Brazil and Mexico are the world's deadliest countries for transgender and gender nonconforming people, according to a survey conducted by Transgender Europe (TGEU), a network of non-profits advocating for trans rights globally.

Despite the efforts by some trans politicians to change rules and fight prejudice, Latin America remains as one of the worst regions for trans people in the world. [L1N2V402R]

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice and Carla Carniel; Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Steven Grattan and Aurora Ellis)

‘Forever chemicals’ may have polluted 20m acres of US cropland, study says

Tom Perkins
Sun, May 8, 2022

Photograph: Tannen Maury/EPA

About 20m acres of cropland in the United States may be contaminated from PFAS-tainted sewage sludge that has been used as fertilizer, a new report estimates.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 9,000 compounds used to make products heat-, water- or stain-resistant. Known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t naturally break down, they have been linked to cancer, thyroid disruption, liver problems, birth defects, immunosuppression and more.

Dozens of industries use PFAS in thousands of consumer products, and often discharge the chemicals into the nation’s sewer system.

The analysis, conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), is an attempt to understand the scope of cropland contamination stemming from sewage sludge, or biosolids. Regulators don’t require sludge to be tested for PFAS or closely track where its spread, and public health advocates warn the practice is poisoning the nation’s food supply.

“We don’t know the full scope of the contamination problem created by PFAS in sludge, and we may never know, because EPA has not made it a priority for states and local governments to track, test and report on,” said Scott Faber, EWG’s legislative policy director.

All sewage sludge is thought to contain the dangerous chemicals, and the compounds have recently been found to be contaminating crops, cattle, water and humans on farms where biosolids were spread.

Sludge is a byproduct of the wastewater treatment process that’s a mix of human excrement and industrial waste, like PFAS, that’s discharged from industry’s pipes. Sludge disposal can be expensive so the waste management industry is increasingly repackaging it as fertilizer because excrement is rich in plant nutrients.

EWG found Ohio keeps the most precise records of any state, and sludge has been applied to 5% of its farmland since 2011. Extrapolating that across the rest of the country would mean about 20m acres are contaminated with at least some level of PFAS. Faber called the estimate “conservative”.

EPA records show over 19bn pounds of sludge has been used as fertilizer since 2016 in the 41 states where the agency tracks the amount of sludge that’s spread, but not the location. It’s estimated that 60% of the nation’s sludge is spread on cropland or other fields annually.

The consequences are evident in the only two states to consistently check sludge and farms for PFAS contamination. In Maine, PFAS-tainted fields have already forced several farms to shut down. The chemicals end up in crops and cattle, and the public health toll exacted by contaminated food in Maine is unknown. Meanwhile, the state is investigating about 700 more fields for PFAS pollution.

“There’s no easy way to shop around this problem,” Faber said. “We shouldn’t be using PFAS-contaminated sludge to grow food and feed for animals.”

Michigan faces a similar situation as it uncovers contaminated beef and farms, and growing evidence links sludge to public health problems and contaminated drinking water.

The health cost of using sludge outweighs the benefits, advocates say. Many have questioned the sense in spending billions of dollars to pull sludge out of water only to inject the substance into the nation’s food supply, and calls for a ban on the practice are growing louder.

“The EPA could today require treatment plants to test sludge for PFAS and warn farmers that they may be contaminating fields, but it has refused to do so,” Faber said.

‘It’s just gorgeous’: rare deep-sea dragonfish spotted off California coast



Maya Yang
Fri, May 6, 2022, 6:43 PM·2 min read


A rare deep-sea fish has been spotted off the coast of northern California, prompting excitement among marine biologists who have attempted to track down the elusive creature for decades.

Related: Vaquita porpoise could survive … but only if illegal fishing stops immediately

The Bathophilus flemingi, also known as the highfin dragonfish, was captured on video by a team of researchers in Monterey Bay, California. Named after the mythical creature, the torpedo-shaped fish is a predator that roams the depths of the ocean.

The fish can grow up to 16.5cm in length and has long thin rays for fins. Scientists think the wing-like filaments can detect vibrations and can alert the fish of oncoming predators and prey.

The dragonfish uses a sit-and-wait tactic in which it hangs motionless in midwater and waits for unsuspecting crustaceans and fish to feed on, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). It also uses a bioluminescent filament that extends from its chin.

“It uses that to attract prey that see the spot of glowing light and get drawn to it because they think it’s something small enough that they can eat,” Bruce Robison, a senior scientist at MBARI told Live Science.

Upon encountering its prey, the fish will open its jaws, revealing a set of sharp teeth, and snap its mouth shut.

“In more than three decades of deep-sea research and more than 27,600 hours of video, we’ve only seen this particular species four times! We spotted this individual just outside of Monterey Bay at a depth of about 300 meters (980 ft),” the researchers said in a YouTube video caption of the dragonfish swimming.

The fish captured by researchers on camera had a bronze hue unlike that of any other deep-sea species. “They are just amazing animals, and part of what is appealing is that color pattern,” Robinson said.

He added the bronze hue could probably be a type of camouflage as it absorbs the blue light that reaches the ocean’s depths. As a result, the fish blends into its dark environment and becomes nearly invisible.

“But when we shine our white lights on it, it’s just gorgeous,” Robinson said.

CALIFORNIA
If Salton Sea isn't restored with ocean water, cleanup could worsen climate change


Chuck Parker and Feliz Nunez
Sun, May 8, 2022,

If we’re not careful, the well-intentioned effort to restore the Salton Sea could have serious adverse consequences: large emissions of greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change.

A recent report by Jenny Ross, an attorney and writer working on a long-term research project about the Salton Sea, warns that many of the proposed long-range restoration plans will cause large emissions of carbon dioxide and methane.

Studies of other drying lakes around the world have found these atmosphere-warming gasses come from large deposits of carbon-rich organic matter that were trapped and secured under deep water, and are later released from the exposed dry lakebed. Emissions increase with shallow water habitats and from exposed lake beds that are further disturbed by “furrowing” used as a dust control measure.

The potential greenhouse gas emissions from the large areas of the Salton Sea's dry exposed lakebed are immense: over 26 million metric tons of CO2 every year. This means one and a half times the emissions put out by all of California's 14 petroleum refineries, or 7.2% of all of the state's CO2 emissions.


And that estimate does not include methane emissions from highly saline brine sinks such as within the Perimeter Lake, another non-water-import plan. Methane causes up to 80 times more warming than carbon dioxide.

To minimize carbon emissions, the state agencies overseeing the Salton Sea Management Program need to incorporate this scientific knowledge into its 10-year plan.

Chuck Parker, left, and Feliz Nunez

Our public health demands review by a panel of qualified scientists, so that long-range plans be carton neutral or even carbon negative. If California instead implements plans at the Salton Sea that cause major increases in greenhouse gasses, the drought will get worse, putting public health in greater danger from hotter temperatures and blowing dust.

The Salton Sea Coalition is asking Coachella Valley city councils to continue their support of ocean water import to refill the Salton Sea. This is the long-range plan most likely to restore the ecosystem, protect public health, support recreation and tourism, contribute to a vigorous regional economy and avoid ongoing releases of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere.

All health-conscious residents, please call or write your representatives and urge them to support these resolutions:

The UC Santa Cruz Ocean Water Importation Independent Review Panel must consider potential carbon emissions when conducting the "comprehensive analysis of ocean water import" that was requested by our city in 2019 and 2020 resolutions. This analysis must include emissions from a drying lakebed and proposed shallow water bodies as well as construction related emissions.

The Long-Range Planning Committee of the Salton Sea Management Program must assess potential carbon emissions of all other long-range solutions under consideration to address the man-made problems of the Salton Sea.

Our continued support of ocean water import to refill the Salton Sea. This is the long-range plan most likely to restore the ecosystem, protect public health, support recreation and tourism, contribute to a vigorous regional economy, and avoid ongoing releases of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere.

Chuck Parker (pchuck48@gmail.com) and Feliz Nunez (fmnunez@dc.rr.com) are members of the Salton Sea Coalition.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Salton Sea restoration must not worsen climate change | Column

Deadly ‘wet-bulb temperatures’ are being stoked by climate change and heat waves

Denise Chow
Sat, May 7, 2022

Parts of India and Pakistan have been sweltering for weeks under a record-breaking heat wave, exposing more than a billion people to dangerously hot conditions with little relief in sight.

While temperatures in the region cooled slightly this week, blistering heat is expected to return in the coming days and spread east, where rising "wet-bulb temperatures" — an esoteric measurement that was little known outside meteorology circles until now — could threaten the ability for humans to survive, according to experts.

It's the type of concern that is becoming more urgent as climate change makes extreme heat events both more frequent and more severe, said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London.

"If we do one thing to adapt, it really needs to be for heat, because that is where we see the strongest changes everywhere in the world," she said.

As the intensity of heat waves increases as a result of global warming, it raises the risk that what's known as wet-bulb temperatures will also go up, pushing some heat events into "unsurvivable" territory, experts say.

Wet-bulb temperature measures the combination of heat and humidity, which can hamper the human body's ability to cool itself down if at too high a level.

Humans, like most mammals, cool themselves through sweating. Body heat is used to convert sweat into water vapor, and as that evaporation process occurs, the body cools.

"It's a very effective means of cooling, but it's crucial that the sweat can actually evaporate," said Tapio Schneider, a professor of environmental science and engineering at the California Institute of Technology.

A boy cools off in New Delhi on May 3, 2022. 

(Xavier Galiana / AFP - Getty Images)

When the wet-bulb temperature, or the combination of heat and humidity, exceeds the temperature of the human body — around 97 degrees Fahrenheit or 36 degrees Celsius — sweat cannot evaporate and humans can no longer cool themselves down.

“It’s really a hard limit for survivability,” Schneider said. “You can die just by sitting there. You don’t need to move or do anything else. There’s simply no way to cool and you overheat.”

In areas with dry heat, the wet-bulb temperature threshold for human safety will be higher. But in more humid places, temperature and humidity will create a potentially lethal mix at a lower point.

The name itself comes from how meteorologists sometimes calculate wet-bulb temperatures, which involves wrapping a wet cloth around a thermometer and measuring how much the temperature cools as a result of evaporation.

Climate studies have found that as global temperatures creep up, warmer air will be able to hold more moisture. That, in turn, will increase humidity and cause wet-bulb temperatures to rise.

A study published in May 2020 in the journal Science Advances found that heat and humidity in certain parts of the world are already testing the limits of human survivability. The research found that parts of South Asia, including India and Pakistan, coastal and southwestern North America and areas around the Persian Gulf have experienced conditions "nearing or beyond prolonged human physiological tolerance."

Over the past month, temperatures in Pakistan and across northwest and central India soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit for days on end, with the region posting its highest average temperatures on record for the month of April. With the heat wave expected to expand into more humid, coastal regions, the risk of hitting critical wet-bulb temperature thresholds will increase, Otto said.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department is forecasting severe heat wave conditions for the coming week, with officials there advising people to avoid unnecessary exposure to direct sunlight.

Otto said that without crucial interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the pace of climate change, oppressive and dangerous heat waves will persist.

"We have seen everywhere across the world that heat records are being broken every year, and this is exactly what we expect in a warming climate," she said. "Climate change has been a real game-changer when it comes to heat waves."

VIEW FROM THE RIGHT
‘We can’t heat our food anymore’: Middle England reveals why it turned against the Tories


Edward Malnick

THE TELEGRAPH
Fri, May 6, 2022

Boris Johnson - Daniel Leal – WPA Pool/Getty Images

It is 7.30pm on a Wednesday evening and Donna, a 47-year-old care assistant, is sitting in her Wakefield home, wrapped in a shawl.

Like many across the country, she has become acutely conscious of the rising cost of living. Increasing food, energy and diesel prices are already having a significant impact on her day-to-day life.

Energy tariffs that offer cheaper “off peak” rates allow Donna and many others to shift their use of household appliances to the evening, or night time. Other adjustments, though, are more dramatic, like eating significantly less hot food.

“I have noticed it recently,” she said. “My kids have left home and it’s just me and my partner. I’m washing after six now. We don’t really put the heating on. We wrap. If we put the heating on to take the cold out of the air, it’s after six and it’s only for an hour.”


She added: “We’re eating a lot of cold food, so as not to have to cook.”

Donna’s husband has also begun driving their car to work to save on the additional diesel consumed when she used to drop him off each day and then return home.

She is addressing a focus group of nine working-class voters in Wakefield, all of whom describe their own cut-backs, albeit to varying degrees, to reduce costs.

All voted for the Conservatives in 2019, but the majority indicate a disaffection with Boris Johnson which appears to have contributed to the severe losses suffered by the Tories in the council elections.

A similar sentiment was described by some of the Conservatives’ ousted council leaders on Friday.

Tory MPs know that the disaffection that appeared to play out could be highly dangerous for the Prime Minister in a general election, particularly if they considered Sir Keir Starmer to be a better alternative.

Imran Ahmad Khan - Heathcliff O’Malley for The Telegraph

Within weeks, the Wakefield voters will be taking part in a by-election sparked by the departure of Imran Ahmad Khan, the Conservative MP convicted of sexually assaulting a boy.

Another group of comparatively better-off voters in north London, who also backed the Conservatives in 2019, express not dissimilar views about Mr Johnson and Sir Keir. Unfortunately for the Labour leader, he remains less popular than Mr Johnson amongst both groups of voters, however low their view of the Prime Minister has been sinking.

The groups were organised by Public First, the influential opinion research firm that has carried out work for Downing Street, and moderated by James Frayne, a founding partner.

In both cases, the rising cost of living is clearly the biggest concern.

“I don’t know anyone who’s not tightening their belts at the moment and trying to make changes to their lifestyles,” said Imran, a school business manager from Harrow, north-west London, where the Conservatives took control of the local council from Labour on Friday.

Felicity, a manager in the public sector, said: “The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. And us who are in the middle, we’re just holding on, we’re just struggling.”

Felicity, whose son is living with her whilst studying at university, said she is spending much of her time switching off lights in their home and, whilst “the food shop can never go down in our house, it’s Lidl and Aldi and less of the Marks & Spencer [and] Waitrose”.

She added that her son will still likely require help from “the bank of mum and dad” when he graduates, even on the basis that he gets a job with the minimum wage.

“The bank of mum and dad are thinking, ‘God almighty, we’re struggling as it is’,” she said.

Deborah, who works in HR operations, is now using her car only “if I absolutely have to” in order to save money on fuel.

Darena, another middle-aged woman from Harrow who cares for her elderly mother, is using her washing machine and oven only when she has a full load of items for each appliance.

Peter, a 51-year-old social housing consultant in the London focus group, said: “My electricity bill for three months is usually £300 and it was close to £800. It’s an incredible uplift in expenses.”

Steve, a porter from Wakefield, said: “We’ve just started, if the kids get cold, reverting back a little bit, like people used to do back in the day [to] ‘put a jumper on, get a blanket’ or something like that. It’s not instantly, ‘I’ll put the heating on and I’ll warm you up’.”

Jasmine, 36, from Wakefield, who works in healthcare and has a young daughter, said: “I’ve made quite a few changes. Because I drive quite a lot, I’m trying to rely more on car sharing or using public transport and I’m also pushing to work from home a little bit more.

“In terms of my heating, I’ve turned it down by degree and I’m also having it on less. In terms of my washing, I’m trying to reduce the number of loads, trying not to use the tumble dryer. And I’m shopping more at budget supermarkets.”

In only one case across the two groups did a participant say they felt optimistic about the economic situation.

“I’m in a bit of a lucky situation where my mortgage is paid off and I don’t have any loans or anything, so I can weather the storm a little bit,” said Michael, a 48-year-old maintenance engineer from Wakefield. His energy bill has, however, doubled, leading him to turn down his thermostat to 20C.

Generally, the voters in these two groups do not blame the Government for the rise in the cost of living – although some express irritation about its approach to tax, including the National Insurance increase introduced last month.

Darena said: “There are so many, many factors. The oil crisis is one factor, the energy crisis then stemming from that.”

Peter commented: “I just find it so depressing, the whole Rishi Sunak scenario of imposing higher taxes on everybody and then his wife’s non-dom status. I’m a Tory voter, but I am incredibly embarrassed by that front bench.”

Imran said he had previously supported the Conservatives having seen the party as supportive of local businesses, with which his family has been involved for a number of decades.

Rishi Sunak - Reuters/Toby Melville

However, the Government’s response to the cost of living crisis has suggested they are “out of touch”, he said, with a council tax rebate for millions of households failing to compensate for the National Insurance increase and rise in bills.

Mr Johnson’s standing appears to have slipped universally amongst the voters in Wakefield and the London group.

“I liked him as a person previously, I always thought he was a character,” said Deborah. But she put Covid-19 successes such as the vaccine roll-out down to the NHS, criticised fiascos over personal protective equipment for medics, and described the Prime Minister’s overall performance as “abysmal”.

Darena said: “My mum, whenever Boris comes on TV, starts ranting about his hair, and how scruffy it is and what state he looks. I know that that is so superficial and may seem really shallow, but on the world stage, it does matter.”

However, she added: “I don’t know if there’s anyone better, and that’s always the problem, isn’t it? It’s choosing between the plague and another illness.”

Many of those in the groups believed that Mr Johnson should have quit some time ago over the scandal of illicit parties held at Downing Street during Covid lockdowns.

“I think the fact they had parties is ridiculous,” said Vicky, from Wakefield, who works in financial services. “Don’t put yourself in a position of power that you then abuse. That really upsets me. I won’t trust him. I don’t trust him. I think he’s a bit of a joke, to be honest.

“He doesn’t make decisions, it’s quite clear when he’s on TV presenting he hasn’t got a clue what he’s talking about. There’s a lot of people behind him that do all the work.”

Ed Murphy and Mohammed Rangzeb - Paul Marriott/PA Wire

But a perceived lack of a convincing alternative to Mr Johnson, whether in the form of Sir Keir or potential Tory leadership rivals, appears to contribute to a view that the time for the Prime Minister to quit has come and gone.

“I think he should have gone, but I don’t think there’s any point in getting rid of him now,” said Vicky. “He’s got away with it. There are other more important things.”

Andy, a 54-year-old builder, said: “I think he ought well to have gone. He’s a lucky man.”

However, Imran disagreed, saying: “I don’t see him there very long. People don’t like the fact that he lied.”

There are also signs of Mr Johnson’s Brexit dividend wearing off, with none of the participants mentioning the issue as one of the Prime Minister’s successes, and two of those in the Wakefield group complaining that he had failed to come good on the Vote Leave pledge to redirect £350 million a week previously spent on the EU, to the health service.

For now, though, those thinking of dropping their support for the Conservatives appear put off from doing so by their view of Sir Keir – who also appears to be struggling to gain the admiration and trust of these voters.

“He doesn’t have charisma or much of a personality,” says Deborah, from Harrow. Felicity said she could “either take him or leave him”, and bemoaned the “school playground” of politics in the House of Commons.

Peter adds: “I don’t like him at all. The Labour Party are just as bad.”

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

How would men like it if the government fought unwanted pregnancy with their bodies?



Sun, May 8, 2022, 

Get proactive against pregnancy

Instead of forcing pregnant rape victims to give birth, let’s give a vasectomy to every boy at puberty and reverse it on his wedding day. It’s still draconian, but less medieval.

- Blake K. Wallace, Arlington

Do Americans Support Abortion Rights? Depends on the State.


Comparing state-by-state support for abortion rights, and where trigger laws would ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned. (The New York Times)

Nate Cohn
Sat, May 7, 2022

A majority of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. But the story is more complicated in the states where the future of abortion policy is likely to be decided if — as is now expected — the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

In the states poised to put in new restrictions on abortion, people tend to say that abortion should be mostly or fully illegal, based on a New York Times analysis of large national surveys taken over the past decade.

In the 13 states that have enacted so-called trigger laws, which would immediately or very quickly outlaw abortion if Roe were overturned, 43% of adults on average say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while 52% say it should be illegal in most or all cases.

Voters are more divided in the dozen or so states that have pre-Roe bans on the books or that are expected to enact new abortion restrictions if Roe is overturned. In those states — where the fight over abortion is most likely to play out in campaigns or state legislative chambers — an average of 49% of adults say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, compared with 45% who say otherwise.

That is still somewhat less than the national average of 54% who mostly or fully support legalized abortion, compared with 41% who mostly or fully oppose it.

The geographic pattern evident in the results suggests that a national outcry over a court decision to overturn Roe might not carry many political consequences in the states where abortions could be immediately restricted. In some of those states, new abortion restrictions may tend to reinforce the political status quo, even as they spark outrage elsewhere in the country.

But elsewhere, a fight over new abortion restrictions might pose serious political risks for conservatives, perhaps especially in the seven mostly Republican-controlled states that are seen as most likely to enact new restrictions even though a majority of voters tend to support legal abortion.

The public’s views on abortion are notoriously hard to measure, with large segments of the public often seeming to offer muddled or inconsistent answers. Polls consistently show that around two-thirds of Americans support the court’s decision in Roe v. Wade and oppose overturning it. Yet just as many Americans say they support banning abortion in the second trimester, a step barred by Roe. And a more modest majority — usually around 55% in broader sets of data — supports legal abortion in most or all cases, while people split almost evenly over whether they consider themselves “pro-choice” or “pro-life.”

The poll question used here — whether the respondent believes abortion should be legal in most or all cases or illegal in all or most cases — offers only a general sense of a voter’s attitudes on the issue. It may not align exactly with whether a voter or a state electorate would support any particular restriction.

Voters who support abortion in “most” cases might accept a ban on abortions after the first trimester, like the one recently enacted in Florida, which would be at odds with Roe v. Wade but affect only about 8% of abortions. Conversely, voters who believe abortion should be illegal in most cases might still support allowing abortion in cases of rape or incest — or perhaps even without conditions in the first trimester.

The opponents of Roe have long said they wanted to leave the issue to the voters of each state, and the data suggests that abortion restrictions may cut very differently across the dozen or so states where the issue is likeliest to be in play in the months ahead.

In Texas, which has put into action the most stringent abortion restrictions so far, there are few signs of a fundamental transformation of the state’s politics.

Texans roughly split on abortion overall, making abortion rights more popular there than in the typical state with a trigger law. But abortion was almost a nonissue in the state’s primary in March, with candidates staying focused on the pandemic and immigration. Only 39% of Texans said the state’s abortion laws should be “less strict” in a poll in February, several months after the passage of the law, which effectively bans abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion rights advocates might be on more favorable political terrain in the more traditionally competitive Midwestern states. A modest majority of voters say abortion should be mostly legal in states like Ohio, Michigan and Iowa, where evangelical Christians represent a far smaller share of voters than in the South. The figures are similar in other battleground states, like Arizona and Florida.

It is unclear if the abortion issue will be enough to redraw the political map. Perhaps it will fade, as it seems to have in Texas. But the stakes are not small for Republicans in this region: The predominantly white working-class voters who swung from Barack Obama to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election tended to back abortion rights.

In a postelection study, 58% of voters who flipped from Obama to Trump in 2016 said that they would support a law that would “always allow a woman to obtain an abortion as a matter of choice.”

© 2022 The New York Times Company