Minds Eye 2026

MIND’S EYE 2026

PEACE

MEAL HEAVENLY

CASTING

HIGH

Doubt MUCH

Fit

FOR

NEEDED

Purpose THREAD

BARE

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RIGHT

Mum’s

the

WORD Mind’s Eye | July 2026

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Page 34 - Growing Pains 2

Mind’s Eye | July 2026

Contents 114

38

24 70

28

32 | Chain Reaction

76 | Too Right

Alexander Clayton

Treasure Armadi

34 | Growing Pains

80 | Deep Breath

Selina Zhang

Ava Wang

38 | Miffed

82 | Paradise Found

Milly Cordeaux

Tom Dingle

42 | It’s Alive, It’s Alive

86| Human Race

Patrick Lyu

Suriya Ramyead

44 | Heavenly High

90| Much Needed

Monty Butler

Andie Whibley

48 | Starstruck

94| The Final Shah

William Shi

Georgie Carter

50 | Britain Branded

98| Identity Crisis

Rupert Brett

Isaac Wong

7 | Thread Bare

54 | Fit for Purpose

102| Watch It!

Coco Ursell Beer

Lina Wang

Al Preston

12 | Long Reign

56 | Family Ties

106| Charm Offensive

Sophia Chandy

Eleanor Hogg

Hannah Mulheirn

14 | Droning On

58 | Killer Image

110| Mark the Music

Raf Cable

Lyanna Fikury

Dora Wang

16 | Spending Time

60 | Fathoms Deep

114| Mellow Drama

Georgia Roberts

Neha Wijeyeratne

Sebastian Hammond

20 | Mean Spirit

64 | Green Land Grab

116| Peace Meal

Michelle Garrick

Jayden Kong

Asuka Arai

22 | Mood Food

66 | Pure Intentions

106

Olivia Otunyo

24 | Casting Doubt Julien Huang

28 | Mum’s the Word Chloe Hay

Lily Robertson

70 | Virgil Aeternus Shira Lahav

74 | Ashes to Ashes Seb Clark Mind’s Eye | July 2026

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Editorial This magazine is reassuring. It shows the importance of giving young people the chance to share their passions, and it is a lovely display of a wide range of passions. It is reassuring to read original thoughts expressed with human language in this new world of generative AI and intellectual complacency. If there was any doubt that my generation is trading in their creativity for a saturated future of lazy solutions fragmented by em dashes — fear not! The creation of this year’s Mind’s Eye (the sixteenth!) has been full of collaboration and positivity, and only a few heated disputes, and the honest humanity in those interactions was truly reassuring. It is reassuring for me, as their editor, that all of these young writers have the potential to reach the stars, and I know you, the reader, will be reassured too.

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IT IS REASSURING TO READ ORIGINAL THOUGHTS EXPRESSED WITH HUMAN LANGUAGE IN THIS NEW WORLD OF GENERATIVE AI AND INTELLECTUAL COMPLACENCY.

Lily Robertson Editor www.mindseyemagazine.com

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THE HONEST HUMANITY IN THOSE INTERACTIONS WAS TRULY REASSURING.

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COCO URSELL BEER brings the high world of fashion down to Earth.

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n the world of high fashion, you’d As a reformed fast-fashion addict turned expect marketeers to exploit the campaigner, Venetia La Manna says it’s not power of high-quality imagery, just about the need to change your look. stylized campaigns and ‘I’d go into fast-fashion shops globally known celebrity in my lunchbreak and after endorsement to persuade us work. They were places I to buy their wares. It’s been went to try to feel better. this way for decades, as former Buying something gave me MARKETING EXPERTS editor-in-chief of British a hit of feel-good dopamine.’

ALSO HAVE AT THEIR Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, It took someone online FINGERTIPS HIGHLY once observed: ‘Fashion is calling her out, advising her REFINED DATA smoke and mirrors. We create to investigate her shopping ANALYTICS, CUSTOMER images, we create a world of habits, to open her eyes INSIGHTS, BEHAVIOURAL stuff, yes, ultimately to make to issues lying behind TRENDS AND DIGITAL people want to have it.’ this multi-billion industry.

INFLUENCERS TO HOOK Andrew Brooks, author of US IN AND MAKE US These days, however, Clothing Poverty, helps us to SPEND. marketing experts also have understand such issues and at their fingertips highly starts with the immediate refined data analytics, customer insights, human impact the business has in emerging behavioural trends and digital influencers economies where many fast-fashion items to hook us in and make us spend. And such start their life. tools are never more expertly deployed than in the space of fast-fashion, a $100 billion Poverty wages are, he writes, endemic and sector of the fashion business, where cheap he cites the disturbingly ironic case in which, versions of high-end fashions move within seven years ago, female Bangladeshi workers weeks from catwalk to wardrobe. Endless made T-shirts endorsed by a girl band known desire for low-cost T-shirts, wear-once for extolling the importance of girl power, to dresses and jeans we’ll rapidly replace, is raise funds for charity. The women making both created and stoked, with Generation-Z the T-shirts were paid 35p an hour, faced driving the show. verbal abuse and harassment, and were forced to work 16-hour shifts to keep up with Dr Elaine Ritch, Reader in Fashion, Marketing production targets. and Sustainability at Glasgow Caledonian University, explains further: ‘Generation-Z Sophie Eastaugh, a presenter on the BBC present with insecure fashion identities, World Service podcast, The Climate Question, seeking solutions from social media fashion reveals this case is far from an isolated case, marketing, where frequent-impulsive with, she claims, 93% of fast-fashion workers fashion consumption reflects an urgency to not getting a living wage. The gender-based maintain in-the-moment fashion identities.’ violence women face is also endemic in the As one Gen-Z participant in a piece of Ritch’s industry, with Brooks citing Indian supplier recent research admits: ‘Our age group factories for H&M and GAP being two of the cannot be seen wearing the same thing high-profile brands being publicly called twice; there’s social pressure. I need to buy a out and accused of physical abuse against new outfit for everything I go to.’ female employees.

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A less obvious negative impact of this industry in the global south, where cheap, poorly made clothes are made and exported to the global north, is that, once discarded, two-thirds of these cast-offs end up returning to the south, to countries such as Ghana. The Kantamanto second-hand market in its capital city, Accra, for instance, receives 1,000 tonnes of our cast-off clothes a week. Favour Nunoo, a journalist with BBC news in Accra, says that since 40% of these fast-fashion clothes are damaged, and not fit for resale, ‘stall holders themselves then chuck them out.’

Some are funnelled to engineered dump sites around the coastal capital, Accra, but official sites can collect and process 30 tonnes of such fashion waste daily, leaving hundreds more tonnes with nowhere official to go, which means they end up in drains, on beaches and nearby wetlands where local wildlife inevitably suffers.

These discarded clothes affect local citizens, too. As Nunoo points out, cheaply made clothes don’t just fall apart. They are made with cheap dyes and, as with a pair of jeans he bought recently, such dyes leak out during washing and, when discarded, in waterways. Unsurprisingly, this water becomes polluted and undrinkable.

You need only do a quick internet search of ‘fashion waste in Ghana’ to see eye-stretching images of fishermen and cattle struggling to make their way over mountains of textile waste, to glimpse the scale of the problem.

These downsides of the fast-fashion industry may make us think twice about how we engage with it but as with most things in life we’re most likely to act only once an impact is felt in our own lives. For example, do we really want to be eating the clothes we once wore? If this sounds dystopian, consider this: microscopic, low-quality synthetic fibres in fast-fashion pieces are easily broken down when we wash them and they find their way from our washing machines into waterways and oceans.

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Although all clothes shed fibres, natural ones from cotton, linen and wool are broken down by micro-organisms, light, air and water, and these biodegradable natural fibres pose few problems in comparison with artificial versions.

Tiny strands and coils of polyester and acrylic acidify the water (itself a trigger for climate change) and are fed on by marine organisms, which gradually work their way through the food chain, and end up in our fish fingers, salmon fillets and canned tuna. In turn, these micro fibres are deposited in our guts, along with the pollutants that adhere to them. Currently it is not known for sure the impact this may have on our health, but it’s safe to say it’s not going to be good.

Fast-fashion can also affect our mental wellbeing. Do we really want to be held hostage and become addicted to the so-called ‘dark patterns’ fast-fashion marketeers build into their website user interface (UI) and techniques that encourage us to buy, buy, buy? Web design agency Rouge Media helps us to understand more, on their own website:

‘A user interface is how someone interacts with a website, application, software, or device. It involves the placement of buttons, layouts, words, navigation, and framework, which facilitate our actions. A good UI design helps us to feel in control and is Do we really want to created with our be held hostage and become addicted to interests in mind.’

the so-called ‘dark patterns’ fast-fashion Rouge Media marketeers build into goes on to their website user explain that dark interface? patterns are the opposite, taking everything wholesome about the UI and making it work in the interests of the website or app owner. A great example, they say, is the hyper-fast-fashion website of Shein.

When we first visit the homepage, as a new user, the screen is flooded with special offers, coupons, and moneyoff vouchers, which creates cognitive dissonance in our brains, knocking us off-guard, and triggering our brains to look for danger or, crucially, ‘reward’.

Before we know it, we’ve clicked on an offer without thinking and are one step

Tiny strands and coils of polyester and acrylic acidify the water and are fed on by marine organisms, which gradually work their way through the food chain.

closer to buying. Sophie Eastaugh adds that pop-ups on-screen informing us that it is ‘our last chance to buy’, that ‘98 other people have this product in their basket’ and ‘this product is running low’, compel us further, to panic-buy.

What’s the solution? Where to start? is probably the answer. The fashion industry is acutely aware of their growing image problem. They know that textile production alone pumps out more greenhouse gas emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping put together, and many are frantically playing catch-up.

Some make it policy not to palm excess clothing off to landfill either in the UK or other countries. Others are beginning to offer repair services, boast of not increasing their volume of textile production and of setting up recycling banks.

Known as the ‘closed loop’ solution, companies like H&M are encouraging customers to drop previously worn, unwanted clothes at such recycling points in-store to be repurposed.

It is a good idea in principle, but those with their fingers on the pulse of fast-fashion downsides point out that this approach risks fuelling, rather than reducing, our reliance on fast-fashion. It casts, for example, a feel-good

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aura around returning once-worn clothes into the system, yet does not address the practical challenges and huge energy costs of recycling such clothes back into new, wearable items.

Perhaps governments and politicians ultimately need to encourage, if not legislate, to push the corporate responsibility along. In 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron had a try, by inviting bosses from 150 brands to launch the ‘Fashion Pact’. Their vision was to present a pioneering new approach to build a naturepositive, net-zero future with a mission to chart the pathway for the industry to create collective solutions powered by CEO leadership. Members range from Armani and Asics to Chanel and Chole. The group is still going, and such initiatives are maybe a starting point, but they are not a quick fix to the fast-fashion crisis.

GOVERNMENTS AND POLITICIANS ULTIMATELY NEED TO ENCOURAGE, IF NOT LEGISLATE, TO PUSH THE CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY ALONG.

Indian supplier factories for H&M and GAP are two of the high-profile brands being publicly called out and accused of physical abuse against female employees.

If you want to take more direct control of your purchasing, one thing you can do is check out the ‘ethical policy’ fashion brands follow. The TOAST site is one worth looking at as an example of a brand attempting to support everyone throughout their production chain and is a useful policy against which to measure other

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IF YOU WANT TO TAKE MORE DIRECT CONTROL OF YOUR PURCHASING, ONE THING YOU CAN DO IS CHECK OUT THE ‘ETHICAL POLICY’ FASHION BRANDS FOLLOW.

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Learn to sew and upgrade what you have.

Set up sewing clubs.

Host a swap shop.

brands. Then there is the advice from Patsy Perry, Senior Lecturer in fashion marketing at the University of Manchester. Perry cuts to the chase by pointing out: ‘less is always more.’

If we really want to break the fast-fashion habit, we need to step back and quite simply buy less, a concept championed by La Manna, the reformed fast-fashion addict, who sees the beauty and value in the pre-loved market and urges us to do the same. ‘Get to know your wardrobe. Celebrate what you already own.

Honour the people who made the clothes,’ urges La Manna. ‘Learn to sew and upgrade what you have. Set up sewing clubs. Host a swap shop.’

Sure, these are small-scale steps, but so was the suffragette movement when it started, and if we want fast-fashion brands to refine their models to benefit exploited female workers, the global environment and our own financial, health and mental wellbeing, we’ve got to start somewhere. ¢

Biodegradable natural fibres pose few problems in comparison with artificial versions.

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Long

Reign brates e l e c Y D CHAN SOPHIA rkable life of our the rema gest-reigning n second-lo arch. mon

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WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THERE WAS A VICTORIA BEFORE THE GRIEF? A VICTORIA WHO LOVED DRAWING AND DANCING AND SINGING? A HEADSTRONG TEENAGER WHO GUSHED IN HER DIARIES ABOUT PRINCE ALBERT?

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hen I say Queen Victoria, you probably picture a little old lady, plump and sad, who seems like she’s been in mourning her whole life. Well, all of that is true, except she only went into mourning when she was 42 so, yes, that was half of her life, but not all of her life. What if I told you there was a Victoria before the grief? A Victoria who loved drawing and dancing and singing? A troublesome toddler, a naughty child, a headstrong teenager, who gushed in her diaries about Prince Albert, the charming German prince she fell head-over-heels in love with and, above all, a woman whose destiny was to rule what would be the largest empire in the world?

strict, and Victoria hated it. She couldn’t sleep in a room without her mother for safety; she couldn’t eat certain things; public appearances were little to none; and she had to hold someone’s hand when walking down the stairs. Victoria felt lonely and isolated.

However, she did have some company. Her governess, Louise Lehzen, was like a mother to her. She and Lehzen would make dresses for her many dolls, and draw Princess (later Queen) Victoria was born on 24 May together. Victoria also loved drawing and 1819. She was initially fifth in line to the painting, something she would excel at all throne at birth, since she was born to her life. When she was 13, she got a King Edward, the Duke of Kent, and her uncles, Charles Spaniel called Dash. She and Dash George IV and William IV, were ahead of did everything together, and Dash rarely SHE COULDN’T SLEEP IN her as monarchs. However, due to deaths left her side.

A ROOM WITHOUT HER in infancy from other family members, MOTHER FOR SAFETY; SHE she quickly escalated up the line of When she was 17, she met Prince Albert COULDN’T EAT CERTAIN succession. and his older brother, Prince Ernest of SaxeTHINGS AND SHE HAD TO Coburg and Gotha. She and Albert were to HOLD SOMEONE’S HAND But soon after her birth tragedy struck.

WHEN WALKING DOWN THE have an arranged marriage that her Uncle Her father died of pneumonia. This left Leopold was micromanaging. This worked STAIRS. raising Victoria to the Duchess of Kent, out – Victoria and Albert ended up falling in Victoria’s mother, who unfortunately left love and got married when they were 20. Their marriage that to Sir John Conroy. Conroy then established the saved the monarchy, because Britain liked to see a loving harsh set of rules called ‘The Kensington System’. It was relationship, unlike the scandalous ones that had come before.

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Victoria ascended the throne on 20 June 1837 following the death of her uncle, King William IV. She was 18 years old, so a Regency was avoided. She then had her coronation service on 28 June 1838. It was the dawn of a new era.

A Victorian era. An era of great upheaval and change.

For some it was hugely destructive, for others excitingly progressive, but nonetheless it formed the society we live in today. ¢

Victoria ascended the throne on 20 June 1837 following the death of her uncle, King William IV. She was 18 years old.

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Droning On RAF CABLE reckons farmers will rely more and more on drones to do their heavy lifting.

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hen most people think of drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), they tend to imagine small camera drones used for fun, or – for those who follow current affairs – military drones operating over conflict zones like Ukraine. While these recreational and military uses dominate public perception, UAVs have another crucial, yet often overlooked, role in the civilian world: agriculture.

For an industry so essential to human life, farming faces a surprising number of challenges. These range from the pressures of a changing climate to rising costs, and UAVs offer farmers a new way to see and manage their land without exceeding their budget.

While exact figures are hard to find, it is well known that in the UK the cost of farming resources has been increasing out of proportion with the 14

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revenue gained from selling crops. can save time and money by preventing This makes it more important than wasted effort on crops that are unlikely ever to ensure seed and to thrive, and by allowing fertilisers are used as treatment to be targeted efficiently as possible, only where it is needed. covering the largest area with the minimum In a world where droughts input.

Historically, UAVS NOW ALLOW and storms are becoming farmers relied on INDIVIDUAL FARMERS TO more frequent, and in their experience and PRECISELY MAP THEIR a country like the UK judgement to achieve LAND, GIVING THEM FAR where pressure on water GREATER CONTROL. this, later supported by supplies is increasing, GPS technology. But efficient management UAVs now allow individual farmers to of irrigation systems is important for precisely map their land, giving them more than just a farmer’s wallet. A UAV far greater control and making the equipped with sensors and cameras process of planning and managing can accurately measure soil moisture their crops much easier. across fields, and convert this data into detailed irrigation plans, all without UAVs are not only useful for mapping; the need for manual sampling. This they can also be used to detect areas of not only saves time but also benefits poor crop health early on, identifying the environment by ensuring water issues that would otherwise go is used responsibly and preventing unnoticed. This early warning system unnecessary wastage.

Using the data they collect, UAVs can even be equipped with tanks and seed-dispersal systems to carry out labour-intensive tasks, such as sowing seeds and spraying crops from the air, with the operator barely needing to lift a finger. This reduces the reliance on larger, more expensive machinery such as tractors, lowering both upfront and maintenance costs. These time and cost benefits mean that, in theory, the final product can be sold more cheaply, helping consumers like you and me to access food at lower prices.

However, alongside these many advantages come challenges. UAVs – especially budget models – are not always the most robust pieces of equipment, and they can be more vulnerable to damage than traditional farm machinery. Also, more advanced agricultural drones require specialised training to operate, and regulations often mandate certified pilots. As with many emerging industries, there are not yet enough qualified drone operators meaning that, even if a farmer owns a UAV, they may not always be able to use it effectively.

Moreover, UAVs tend not to be the final answer.

Often to work most efficiently they must be paired up with other software, artificial intelligence, and rural internet connections, not all of which are yet

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UAVS CAN EVEN BE EQUIPPED WITH TANKS AND SEED-DISPERSAL SYSTEMS TO CARRY OUT LABOURINTENSIVE TASKS, SUCH AS SOWING SEEDS AND SPRAYING CROPS FROM THE AIR.

up to standard for this technology to be adopted by farming across the UK, let alone the globe.

Despite these challenges, the way forward does show clear solutions, as well as proof that UAVs can work in an agricultural setting. A decade ago, it was almost unimaginable that any farmer could have their own eye in the sky, replacing many of the practices used before, and with the rapid development of autonomous vehicles and the military paving the way for more robust drones, who knows what it could look like in another decade’s time?

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A DECADE AGO, IT WAS ALMOST UNIMAGINABLE THAT ANY FARMER COULD HAVE THEIR OWN EYE IN THE SKY, REPLACING MANY OF THE PRACTICES USED BEFORE.

Ultimately, while drones may have started life as gadgets and military machines, their greatest impact may well be found in the fields of ordinary farms. As agriculture evolves to meet the demands of a growing population and a changing climate, UAVs are likely to play a central role in ensuring we can feed mouths of the future – sustainably, intelligently, and with a view from above. ¢

More advanced agricultural drones require specialised training to operate.

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GEORGIA ROBERTS asks what drives consumer hunger.

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here are five main factors that different demographics, it triggers drive consumers to purchase others to buy the product purely to goods: psychological, social, fit into their social groups, to feel like cultural, economic, and technical. they belong. So firms will often use What interests me most is the this tactic to their advantage because psychological aspect. This is because they know the majority of people as humans we like to will conform to their think of ourselves as the social groups by also most rational beings, buying the product. but our emotional side, This is why things what makes us human, like fast-fashion are is the lead driver of a huge problem, OUR EMOTIONAL SIDE, what causes us to make because the items WHAT MAKES US HUMAN, decisions, particularly are bought so people IS THE LEAD DRIVER with purchasing goods. fit in with the current OF WHAT CAUSES US trends of the internet TO MAKE DECISIONS, Whether it’s for a family but get thrown away PARTICULARLY WITH member, or just a as soon as the next PURCHASING GOODS. favourite brand coming trend takes over. out with new products, our emotions will always take over Economic factors can also cause and leave rationality behind. So people to purchase goods without a company’s best way to increase thinking, such as during an economic consumer loyalty, or get everyone to boom when people tend to feel richer. buy their product, is to take advantage This is because there is higher job of these emotions. For example, stability, so income is more stable, nostalgia could be a great way to which increases consumer confidence. trigger the emotions of the consumer. This confidence means consumers This could be launching products feel they have more purchasing similar to items from ten years ago to ability so they will spend more on remind customers of memories from non-essentials, which causes them to before. This would drive sales and behave more irrationally and therefore boost your company. It could also get buy products without thinking things everyone talking about your products. through. This is brilliant for firms This relates more to the social side of because they make huge profits and why consumers act irrationally. By are able to expand their businesses, becoming a ‘must-have’ item on social which is why they take full advantage media, or a popular product within of this consumer confidence. Another

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factor is when interest rates are lower.

This is because people are more able to get a loan, which could allow them to purchase a house or other assets.

This also boosts consumer confidence because they would have more wealth as well as income, also causing them to act irrationally.

People very often get carried away with buying presents, food, and decorations.

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There are also cultural influences that see these adverts you are drawn in cause this behaviour, such as national more and start to be convinced that or religious holidays, for example this product has to be for you, and then Christmas. People very often get carried you buy it without actually thinking away with buying presents, food, and about it, and end up with a product you decorations, all to add to the enjoyment probably don’t need, purely because of the celebration. This it was advertised excitement also causes effectively.

People are more able people to act irrationally. to get a loan, which The use of AI also could allow them to Technical influences contributes to irrational purchase a house or other assets. This particularly apply to behaviour, because also boosts consumer online businesses people think that their confidence. because they spend personalised search most of their marketing in AI means that they budget on online pop-ups or adverts on must be the perfect person for the YouTube, tailored to individuals and the product, meaning they are more likely algorithm, and when you repeatedly to purchase the good, without further research or thought. Businesses also use tactics like sales: for example, as time goes on, and trends change, companies need to get rid of stock so, for a period of time they will slowly raise the price almost unnoticeably, in small amounts, and then they will have a huge discount or sale so it looks like the price has been reduced by loads, but in fact it has only dropped a small amount from the original price. And yet consumers still buy it thinking they are saving huge amounts of money when in reality it’s their irrational mind being exploited.

Last are personal factors, such as age, stage of life, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle and personality.

For example, if you are trying to save for a house, or starting to have children, you are more likely to save money If you’ve just got a and really consider each purchase promotion, you are rather than buying on a whim. Or if more likely to spend you’ve just got a promotion, you are lots because you more likely to spend lots because have a higher level of you have a higher level of disposable disposable income. income. Or if someone is a very low consumption person and only buys necessities and hates the fast-fashion trends or lifestyles, they won’t just buy something for no reason. They will really consider it even if they have disposable income and no money pressures. They simply don’t want to buy something just because others have it. ¢

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BY BECOMING A ‘MUST-HAVE’ ITEM ON SOCIAL MEDIA, OR A POPULAR PRODUCT WITHIN DIFFERENT DEMOGRAPHICS, IT TRIGGERS OTHERS TO BUY THE PRODUCT.

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t i r Spi MICHELLE GARRICK says there is no need to mourn the passing of those, such as Charlie Kirk, who do more harm than good.

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his article is aimed at the kind of reader who is not afraid to look past the headlines, the kind of reader who knows how quickly and easily sympathy can be weaponised.

My purpose is not to accuse anyone but to examine what happens when a figure who built a career on hatred is suddenly gone and we are all told to forget why he became famous in the first place.

Charlie Kirk was one of those figures.

When Kirk was rejected at the age of 18 from West Point, he chose a different path and co-founded a grassroots organisation called Turning Point USA. Its apparent goal was to mobilize young conservatives and spark political engagement, but critics argued it thrived on outrage and cultural tensions rather than debate.

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Within years, it grew rapidly alongside the rise of President Donald Trump, supporting the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement.

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of wanting spectacle more than debate.

After his violent death, the narrative quickly shifted. Media outlets that once wrote While Kirk’s influence headlines about his expanded, so did the chaotic provocation THE NARRATIVE QUICKLY scrutiny. His public now romanticised his SHIFTED. MEDIA OUTLETS debates and viral ‘dedication’. The news THAT ONCE WROTE campus clips became was suddenly filled HEADLINES ABOUT HIS less about policy with tributes, often CHAOTIC PROVOCATION and more about portraying his family NOW ROMANTICISED HIS performance.

They grieving in a way that ‘DEDICATION’. used catchy sounds, was softening his short clips and quick legacy. Many began outrage to maximise views. By 2024, to preach forgiveness whilst ignoring Turning Point had over $US 85 million accountability. The same voices he of annual revenue, which proved targeted were being told to stay silent, controversy had become a profitable to be respectful, to grieve. business. Many student groups formed in support of Kirk, giving him a national This pressure to lament Kirk’s demise footprint. However, critics accused Kirk provokes an uncomfortable question.

How can the very black, brown, queer and immigrant people he vilified be expected to mourn his passing? Kirk’s online views often demeaned people based on their race, sex and gender. He once said, ‘If I see a black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.’

He did not measure people by their individual ability but reduced everyone to stereotypes.

outrage he stirred up, he was a man with a family and a faith, but many flaws. Like most strongly opinionated people, he believed in his views and actions wholeheartedly, but simply being human does not give you a free pass to be cruel. His ability to feel and breathe does not He judged people by undo the damage he caused the colour of their skin to many others with his and the complexion of vicious words. their communities, by IF WE ARE ARE NOT AFRAID TO their religion, and by LOOK PAST THE HEADLINES, Charlie Kirk’s death has not their gender. He treated HOLDING CHARLIE KIRK erased that damage. The anyone outside his idea ACCOUNTABLE IS NOT AN same man who mocked of ‘American Values’ OPTION BUT A NECESSITY. women, reduced black, as less than capable. brown, queer, and immigrant He once claimed that people to hopeless stereotypes, and built a birth control makes women ‘angry and following on outrage, is now being framed bitter’ and ‘screws up female brains.’ He as a martyr.

Across the US, supporters have openly mocked women in leadership, held memorials and large gatherings in saying they were ‘too emotional’ places like Glendale, Arizona, Boston, and to handle power, dismissing their Oregon, all of which portrayed him as a hero accomplishments as luck or dependent for youth activism and free speech. on connections.

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He was human, of course. Apart from the politics, the performance and the

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HE DID NOT MEASURE PEOPLE BY THEIR INDIVIDUAL ABILITY BUT REDUCED EVERYONE TO STEREOTYPES.

But remembering him shouldn’t mean ignoring the harm he did in his short life.

If we are are not afraid to look past the headlines, holding Charlie Kirk accountable is not an option but a necessity. Sympathy must never erase such a poisonous legacy. ¢

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OLIVIA OTUNYO says if you want to feel good eat well.

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ave you ever noticed how some meals make you feel calm and focused, while others leave you tired and moody? This happens because food affects both your mind and your body. For example, eating a sugary breakfast might give quick comfort, but it often leads to a crash and will eventually cause irritability later.

Although diet plays a significant role in mental health, people rarely talk about it in daily life, and only sometimes in healthcare. This topic is Nutritional Psychiatry, which examines how what we eat affects our mood and mental state.

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The brain uses about 20% of the body’s Your gut and brain are also connected total energy, meaning that nutrients through something called the gutfunction as a fuel for important brain brain axis. The trillions of bacteria chemicals like serotonin, living in your gut dopamine, and GABA produce chemicals that (gamma-aminobutyric can either improve or acid). These chemicals disrupt your mood. affect mood, focus, and When you eat fibreTHE TRILLIONS OF emotional balance.

BACTERIA LIVING IN YOUR rich or fermented foods Serotonin comes from GUT PRODUCE CHEMICALS like yoghurt, kimchi or THAT CAN EITHER tryptophan, which is kefir, you can help the IMPROVE OR DISRUPT found in eggs, turkey, bacteria stay healthy.

YOUR MOOD. and seeds, while This supports focus and dopamine depends improves overall mood. on B vitamins. Omega-3 fats, which Research indicates that diet quality come from fish, also help brain cells has a significant impact on mental communicate smoothly. health. The International Society for

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Nutritional Psychiatry Research (2015) found strong links between nutrition and emotional well-being, showing that healthy diets help protect you against depression. They argued that nutrition should become a standard part of mental health provision because it is an affordable way to prevent mental illness. This means that the foods we eat can play a role like lifestyle medicine, small daily choices that support long-term mental stability and resilience.

I’m not saying don’t eat sugary foods; however, do everything in moderation. Therefore, improving diet quality plays a vital role in maintaining longterm emotional well-being.

Similarly, the SMILES trial by Jacka et al. (2018) tested a Mediterranean-style diet on adults with depression and found major improvements in mood compared to those who didn’t change their eating habits. The study revealed that the more participants improved their diets the better they felt and thought, and depression symptoms decreased. This suggests that eating better can directly support recovery from mental illness.

Food can therefore be viewed as an effective and low-cost way to boost mental health alongside therapy and medication.

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THE FOODS WE EAT CAN PLAY A ROLE LIKE LIFESTYLE MEDICINE, SMALL DAILY CHOICES THAT SUPPORT LONG-TERM MENTAL STABILITY AND RESILIENCE.

Of course, not everyone has equal access to healthy foods. Poverty and food insecurity can make healthy eating more difficult, especially for young people. Still, eating well is about consistency and not perfection. Even small swaps like choosing flavoured sparkling water over fizzy drinks, or 50/50 bread over white bread, can still have an influence.

Healthy food, sleep, exercise, and stress control keep your emotions stable. Each meal is an opportunity to nourish both body and mind. ¢

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EATING A SUGARY BREAKFAST MIGHT GIVE QUICK COMFORT, BUT IT OFTEN LEADS TO A CRASH AND WILL EVENTUALLY CAUSE IRRITABILITY LATER.

Small swaps like choosing flavoured sparkling water over fizzy drinks can still have an influence.

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Casting

Doubt

JULIEN HUANG charts the mess in Myanmar.

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he Myanmar junta’s decision to transfer power to a civilian-led government, ahead of the proposed election on 28 December, may mark a major turning point after the coup that ousted elected president Aung San Suu Kyi, with the new military government facing heavy resistance in northern parts of the country.

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in exile) has been raging. The NUG is now a shadow government with mostly officials from the past regime, together with the People’s Defence Forces (PDFs), who make up the largest portion of the rebels.

While the National Unity government has been deemed illegal and categorised as a ‘terrorist group’ by the SAG, the NUG Myanmar has long suffered has also criticised the SAG of from political instability, even being a terrorist organisation.

EVER SINCE THE during times when former Apart from the two main MILITARY COUP, THE President and Nobel Peace players in the civil war, the NEWBORN GOVERNMENT Prize winner Aung San Suu insurgents don’t stop there.

HAS FOUND IT Kyi was in power. She has long The complicated power brawl INCREASINGLY HARD TO been criticised by the UN, ICC in the capital, Naypyidaw, GAIN THE FULL SUPPORT and the International Amnesty created a perfect breeding OF THE PEOPLE. Group for her lack of action space for warlords, militias over the Rohingya genocide. The ongoing and other ethnic armed organisations. In persecution of the Muslim Rohingya people 2025, more than 100 military groups were by the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) is involved in the conflicts. to this day unresolved. More significantly, following the landslide election of 2020, won Back in September 2025, a local private

by Aung San Suu Kyi-led NLD, the militaryschool in the Rakhine State was reported backed USDP party, which lost the election, to be bombed by the junta, causing 18 staged a military coup in January 2021, on deaths, as reported by the Arakan Army, the brink of the major outbreak of COVID-19. who controls the area. Those killed in the air strikes were part of the 30-40 boarders Ever since the military coup, the newborn who were still sleeping when two 500lb government has found it increasingly bombs were dropped. The local Rakhine hard to gain the full support of the people, Area, formerly known as Arakan, was a and a major civil war between the State major battlefield in the counter-insurgency Administration Council (the military operation in 2017, which drove more than government) and the European-recognised 740,000 locals away from their homeland to National Unity Government (government seek refuge in Bangladesh.

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It is safe to say that the junta government’s diplomatic policies have not been fully successful.

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Last year, Myanmar experienced a major crisis from the core of the Earth, a 7.7 earthquake that left more than 5,000 dead and 10,000 injured, shaking the infrastructure and putting the nation into more turmoil.

Although a ceasefire was called by rebel movements, the junta continued was appointed by the NLD government airstrikes. Even a natural disaster is not before 2021, and strongly opposes the military coup. a big enough incentive Although the current for the belligerents to While the National Unity government has junta government has reunite and make a truce. been deemed illegal tried to remove him and categorised as from his seat, the UN’s The junta government a ‘terrorist group’ by General Assembly has failed to gain the SAG, the NUG has Credentials Committee legitimacy. The Asian also criticised the SAG has repeatedly Network for Free Elections for being a terrorist deferred recognition. regarded the outcome organisation.

This means that the of the 2020 elections as ‘by and large, representative of the junta government doesn’t represent will of the people of Myanmar’. The Myanmar at the UN stage. In the 2022 junta suffers a lack of legitimacy from general assembly of the United Nations, within the nation after overthrowing Kyaw Moe Tun cast a vote condemning the elected NLD government; global the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a vote recognition had been a far-fetched which opposes the junta’s beliefs. dream for the Tatmadaw government.

The current ambassador for Myanmar Furthermore, the US, EU, Japan, in the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, Australia and other nations have chosen to impose sanctions on the junta government and engage with NUG as Myanmar’s legitimate representative.

Although neighbouring nations strike deals with the junta government, they have avoided formal recognition to leave negotiation space with other military groups. It is safe to say that the junta government’s diplomatic policies have not been fully successful.

On 31 July 2025, the junta called an end to the four-year-long state of emergency and opened up to elections after seven extensions prior. It promised to transfer power to civilianEven a natural led groups, and a caretaker disaster is not a big administration had been formed enough incentive for to oversee elections. However, the belligerents to despite seemingly moving reunite and make a towards democracy, it offers no truce. changes to the current status quo, since the coup leader, Min Aung Hlaing, will continue to hold major levels of power as the acting president and retain his position in the military.

Critics argue that the Tatmaduw will continue to pressure elected officials or create puppets to rig the elections.

Western powers have dismissed the elections because opposition leaders are either barred or have refused to take part.

Many of them are currently participating in the civil war. While the election seems like a desperate act for the unrecognised junta to gain legitimacy, we still hope that the beautiful nation will be able to reunite and once more turn to democracy. ¢

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WE STILL HOPE THAT THE BEAUTIFUL NATION WILL BE ABLE TO REUNITE AND ONCE MORE TURN TO DEMOCRACY.

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Mum’s the

CHLOE HAY explains how languages evolve through women.

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n today’s world the power of as ‘corruption’ owing to their belief language is often overlooked. that language change corresponds Language defines us as humans, with a degradation in the quality of a allowing us to share information in language. Modern linguists oppose a more sophisticated way than any this idea, because from a scientific other species on Earth. Language point of view these changes cannot connects people across the globe be defined as concretely good or bad. and, nowadays, with the dramatic rise These changes are implemented by of social media exposing us to many those who speak the language on a different linguistic day-to-day basis, and subcultures, it never they are themselves stands still. Language influenced by their constantly evolves experiences and LANGUAGE CONSTANTLY with each generation surroundings. And this EVOLVES WITH EACH to mirror their unique shows how language GENERATION TO perspective as well as is a living record of a MIRROR THEIR UNIQUE to reflect other social community’s priorities.

PERSPECTIVE AS WELL trends.

AS TO REFLECT OTHER If linguistic change SOCIAL TRENDS. Linguistic change is a emerges from everyday term used to describe usage, however, an this phenomenon, and refers to the important question is raised: who evolution of language over time. within that community is most This includes shifts in grammar, responsible for initiating and driving punctuation and vocabulary. such change? One might assume that Sociolinguist Jennifer Coates says that linguistic innovation originates from ‘linguistic change can be said to have powerful figures such as politicians, taken place when a new linguistic writers or celebrities, but the truth is form, used by some sub-group within different. a speech community, is adopted by other members of that community Several studies carried out on and accepted as the norm.’ Because languages across the globe have this process generally takes place proved it is post-adolescent females over an extended period of time, new – young women – who spark and and old language features co-exist, spread linguistic change most which some commentators regard throughout society. In the early 2000s,

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sociolinguist William Labov saw that up to 90% of linguistic change was led by women. Furthermore, there can be a ‘lag’ lasting as long as an entire generation between the evolution of male and female language: women adopt and spread new language norms earlier than men.

This idea can be explained in several different ways. First, historically, women were more likely to stay at home to care for children while men went out to work. As a result, children interacted more frequently with women during their formative years, placing women in a stronger position to pass on that they tend to maintain broader and their speech patterns. Because early more diverse social connections than childhood is a vital period for speech young men, allowing new linguistic features to spread acquisition, the speech rapidly across different patterns children are Children interacted groups. Female speech most exposed to are more frequently is also frequently the ones they tend with women during imitated, particularly to adopt. In this way, their formative years, within adolescent female linguistic habits placing women in a communities, where were more likely to be stronger position to identity and belonging transmitted to younger pass on their speech are closely tied to generations and patterns. language use. Moreover, become embedded in young women are often the language of wider society, reinforcing women’s significant highly attuned to how their language is perceived by others. This heightened role in shaping language change. linguistic awareness can make them From a social perspective, young more responsive to emerging trends women often occupy influential and more willing to adopt forms that positions within peer networks. carry social value, for example prestige Research in sociolinguistics suggests or group affiliation. By both introducing

and accelerating the uptake of these forms, young women consistently position themselves at the forefront of linguistic change.

This pattern of innovation can also be seen as a response to social pressures that shape women’s language use.

Gendered language itself is what reinforces these pressures because it refers to language forms that make conscious or unconscious assumptions about gender, which can lead to greater societal distinctions between genders. In languages such as French and Spanish, for example, nouns are assigned grammatical genders that influence the formation of other words across a sentence. This style of language can inadvertently comply with gender stereotypes and reinforce unequal power dynamics.

In professional environments and workplaces, the intersection of gendered language and power is highly visible. For instance, women are frequently associated with using language that is considered polite and indirect. This is especially obvious in Western societies, where women have historically faced criticism for using assertive language in professional settings. In contrast, men are often encouraged to adopt a direct manner of speech when in the workplace.

Linguistic choices that may be recognised as decisive in men can be perceived as demanding or too aggressive when used by women in equivalent positions. Therefore, we can recognise the appearance of ‘double

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standards’ which appear to be pressuring women to use language deemed to be ‘softer’ so they can avoid appearing rude, even when they wish to display authority. These double standards place women in a linguistic bind.

As a result, young women may use linguistic innovation as a way of negotiating these conflicting expectations. By subtly reshaping norms, they are able to challenge restrictive stereotypes, showing that their role at the forefront of linguistic change is not accidental, but a response to the gendered constraints embedded within language itself. When women are expected to sound accommodating yet competent, warm yet authoritative, innovation can become a strategy.

Bringing about linguistic change allows young women to project confidence while avoiding social judgement traditionally associated with ‘speaking too directly’.

Importantly, this phenomenon is not confined to one cultural context. While much research on this subject is based on studies carried out on European languages, linguist Enam Al-Wer has identified similar patterns in her work in Amman, the capital

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FEMALE LINGUISTIC HABITS WERE MORE LIKELY TO BE TRANSMITTED TO YOUNGER GENERATIONS AND BECOME EMBEDDED IN THE LANGUAGE OF WIDER SOCIETY.

of Jordan, where young women were also found to be leading the evolution of language. Such findings suggest that the disproportionate role of women in driving linguistic innovation is not merely Western, but global in scope.

We must not ignore that men also contribute to linguistic change, but in British English, American English, Spanish dialects and many other widely spoken languages, it is women who lead the charge with regards to linguistic innovation.

Recognising this invites us to reconsider whose voices truly hold power in society. Language does not simply mirror existing hierarchies; it actively participates in constructing and reshaping them.

Young women play a central role in shaping the future of language and consistently lead linguistic change so, ultimately, their influence extends far beyond vocabulary or pronunciation.

It reaches into the evolving structures of social power itself. ¢

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YOUNG WOMEN PLAY A CENTRAL ROLE IN SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LANGUAGE AND CONSISTENTLY LEAD LINGUISTIC CHANGE.

YOUNG WOMEN MAY USE LINGUISTIC INNOVATION AS A WAY OF NEGOTIATING THESE CONFLICTING EXPECTATIONS. Mind’s Eye | July 2026

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Chain Reaction In the energy race, ALEXANDER CLAYTON explains the difference between splitting and joining, and wonders who will get there first.

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he race to harness the power To best understand fusion, we must of the stars is on, and it’s called first know how current fission reactors nuclear fusion. Imagine a world work and how fusion is different. where a glass of seawater packs Fission reactors release energy by enough power to fuel a splitting heavy nuclei to city for a day. Well, that create lighter fragments. is the reality of nuclear This process is aided by fusion. The question the natural electrical is who will get there repulsion of positive THE TOKAMAK IS A SOVIET first: the billion-pound charges in the nuclei.

FUSION DESIGN THAT USES companies like ITER or Fusion, by contrast, STRONG MAGNETIC FIELDS the daring startups like joins light isotopes of TO CONFINE HOT PLASMA Helion? hydrogen into heavier, IN A DOUGHNUT-SHAPED more stable nuclei. This CHAMBER. In 1971 Richard Post process is harder since published a chart in the ‘Bulletin of the electrical repulsion between like the Atomic Scientists’, predicting charges inhibits fusion. To fuse, the commercial fusion by 1990. That’s hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and when the famous saying, ‘for over 70 tritium, must move rapidly enough years, scientists have said fusion is 30 to overcome this barrier, requiring years away’, originated. Today, some temperatures around 150 million °C. companies are setting fusion deadlines At these temperatures atoms collide within 30 years, raising the question: is so violently that electrons are torn the timeline finally shifting? from the nuclei, creating a gas of free32

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moving electrons and nuclei. This is the fourth state of matter called ‘plasma’.

But plasma is so superheated it would incinerate any container instantly, stopping the fusion reaction. So, how are big science labs and startups tackling this challenge?

The tokamak is a Soviet fusion design that uses strong magnetic fields to confine hot plasma in a doughnutshaped chamber. A powerful electric current induced in the plasma, combined with external magnetic coils, creates a helical magnetic field that prevents the plasma from touching the reactor walls. ITER, Latin for ‘the way’, is the world’s most ambitious fusion project, launched in 2006 by an international organisation, including China, the US, and the EU. Its goal is to produce the first-ever reactor that burns plasma, causing the plasma to undergo a self-heating process.

ITER cannot convert the heating power to electricity but it aims to generate 500 MW of fusion power from 50 MW of input to prove net energy gain. If successful, ITER will be the first magnetic fusion confinement experiment to produce net energy gain across the plasma. The target date is 2035, with costs exceeding $US 20 billion. However, ITER faces a significant problem: its beryllium walls, meant to multiply neutrons, contain uranium impurities which, under bombardment, make the beryllium dangerously radioactive over time. This risks fusion becoming as expensive as fission.

Founded in America in 2013, Helion takes a different approach to fusion, using magnetic confinement to heat plasma directly and converting that energy to electricity. Trenta, Helion’s sixth-generation reactor, forms two plasma rings at either end of the generator and slams them together in a fraction of a millisecond.

Magnetic fields suspend and compress the plasma at over 300 km/s, raising temperatures to tens of millions of degrees – hot enough for fusion. This allows the ions to fuse, releasing tremendous amounts of energy. Helion has a deal to deliver 50 MW of electricity to Microsoft by 2028, with plans for a 500 MW plant in the 2030s.

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FUSION COULD PROVIDE VIRTUALLY LIMITLESS CLEAN ENERGY FOR THE WORLD. IT COULD END CONFLICTS OVER RESOURCES, LIKE THE GULF WAR.

What’s at stake? Fusion could provide virtually limitless clean energy for the world. It could end conflicts over resources, like the Gulf War, which caused over 100,000 deaths, as well as making energy affordable enough to lift billions from poverty and drive development. It could also inspire future generations to pursue STEM, fuelling faster development. However, fusion could arrive too late for current climate deadlines, reducing its impact.

Startups may achieve fusion first but they face the challenge of scaling up and proving their innovative ideas. Big science labs, like ITER, will move more slowly, and many won’t produce electricity, yet they remain vital for advancing the science, testing tokamaks, and showing how fusion could work at scale. In the end the big question is, will fusion arrive in time to change our future, and who will get us there first? ¢

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HELION TAKES A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO FUSION, USING MAGNETIC CONFINEMENT TO HEAT PLASMA DIRECTLY AND CONVERTING THAT ENERGY TO ELECTRICITY.

Imagine a world where a glass of seawater packs enough power to fuel a city for a day.

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Growing SELINA ZHANG asks whether UK government intervention in the lives of the young is doing more harm than good.

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oung people have always wondered whether government intervention is a benefit or a cost. On the one hand it provides healthcare, education, and employment, but on the other it limits personal freedom, encourages dependency and undermines the strength of youth.

With the rising cost of living, social media and youth unemployment it is crucial to ask whether the government intervention is fostering growth of youth and stimulating its independence.

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education interventions as positive externalities for not only young people but also society as a whole. Additionally, the UK government provides an extra funding of £3.5 billion to support children with disabilities and special educational needs.

Government intervention in education does masses of good for young people because it increases social mobility when they are granted more opportunities, reducing inequality and protecting young people from exploitation.

WITH THE RISING COST OF The government runs Intervention on safeguarding LIVING, SOCIAL MEDIA AND state education. In the and protection also yields YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IT IS UK, this aims to widen the greater benefits because it CRUCIAL TO ASK WHETHER THE protects young people from availability of learning and GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION grant financial support dangers in many areas such IS FOSTERING THE GROWTH OF as exploitation, addiction, to students by treating YOUTH. higher level education as a and fraud. Age restrictions, public good. By providing regulations, and protection economic support for those who lack the services ensure the safety of young people. availability or opportunity, it provides the Having an age limit on the purchase of economy with efficiency in the long run certain goods like alcohol and cigarettes and allows young people to be educated. discourages addiction and health problems Moreover, T Levels were introduced quite linked with them from an early age. recently in 2020, specific skilled industry Furthermore, many schools have adopted education which benefits and prepares educational lessons on safeguarding to young people for skilled employment and spread awareness and ensure the protection allows a smooth shift into the workforce. of individuals, especially in areas of online The possession of an educated background safety, bullying, and mental health concerns. gives young people a wider prospect of With the rise of mental health issues today, employment, especially jobs with higher government intervenes to ensure schools earnings and more worth, reflecting are supporting those in need, providing

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education and training programs to oversee wellbeing. The NHS Long Term Plan, which is a 10-year programmes, also aims to expand community-based services, supporting a greater number of young people. However, government intervention in the mental health sector can also be viewed negatively. The lack of investment by government in the youth mental health services has been widely criticised due to the dramatic rise in mental health numbers amongst young people in recent years. Those who then seek help are often faced with long waiting times, or are told that their problems are not serious enough due to cuts in local government policies.

Although these problems are reflected negatively in mental and physical health concerns, it is due to the lack of intervention and services on mental health protection and not the already implemented interventions.

While most government interventions do good for the younger generation, much of the harm occurs in the housing and employment sectors. The-cost-of living crisis has significantly affected young people, particularly students and graduates who are looking to

enter labour markets. Due to COVID the minimum wage and increasing and our volatile economy over the past national insurance contributions few years, many prices have shot up, has led to youth unemployment of including rent, food, and 16.1% today, which transport. With inflation is the highest in ten peaking, there is an years. The imposition The cost-of-living increased pressure on of a minimum wage crisis has significantly those who earn lower affected young people, makes it more difficult particularly students wages with household for young people to and graduates. budgets, decreased get jobs because firms disposable income and do not want to give difficulties in entering jobs to young people, the employment market. The Bank of who often have less experience and England’s chief economist, Huw Pill, says skill, because they fear a decrease in that the government policies of raising productivity. Furthermore, a rise in wages results in the decrease in demand for labour and creates incentives to substitute labour with capital (like self-checkout and automated cleaning robots). As a result, it specifically takes young people out of the workforce and provokes unemployment amongst those who are in university, or early career workers, leading to the underutilisation of skilled and trained students.

House prices are another demonstration of a negative intervention because fewer young people now own houses.

Most people who own homes are older people who bought houses a long time ago, and those who earn higher incomes. House prices are affected by the imposition of maximum prices and price caps since lowering the prices does not directly benefit young people but kicks them out of the housing market. Consequently, higher-income individuals can purchase property more easily, while younger people must accumulate and save more to

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Many young people still live with their parents because they are unable to purchase a place for themselves.

compete in the market, leaving them struggling even to meet deposit requirements. That said, many young people still live with their parents because they are unable to purchase a place for themselves. This coexists with the problems of structural unemployment for young people and results in the younger generation becoming even more economically deprived.

Ultimately, government intervention is not itself doing harm to young people, but its effectiveness and success depend on its implementation, the external market factors, and the broader context of our society. Although not all interventions bring successful outcomes in the short run, such as minimum wage laws, which may reduce the demand for young labour, in the long run government spending and investment in education, healthcare and infrastructure will improve the productivity of our economy and the social mobility of young people. ¢

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HIGHER-INCOME INDIVIDUALS CAN PURCHASE PROPERTY MORE EASILY, WHILE YOUNGER PEOPLE MUST ACCUMULATE AND SAVE MORE TO COMPETE IN THE MARKET, LEAVING THEM STRUGGLING EVEN TO MEET DEPOSIT REQUIREMENTS. Mind’s Eye | July 2026

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MILLY CORDEAUX asks whether Miffy is a symbol of joy or a puppet of consumerism.

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ne night in 1955, a graphic the story’s theme into small chunks. designer called Dick Bruna wanted These stories discuss a range of topics, to tell his son stories about a rabbit from those as wholesome and relatable they had seen earlier that day. He drew as going to school or visiting an art it with two large ears, two small eyes, gallery or as profound as the death of a an x-shaped mouth, and a red dress. family member or the birth of a younger Bruna made this rabbit sibling. Since these the main character of a experiences may be children’s book series, similar to those of their which would go on to readers, such stories help become Miffy, a globally the children understand SUCH STORIES HELP THE loved merchandising that they are not alone in CHILDREN UNDERSTAND brand now worth over these situations and that THAT THEY ARE NOT £200 million. things will get better, ALONE IN THESE which is inspiring and SITUATIONS AND THAT Good for him. But important for them to THINGS WILL GET BETTER. a lovable cartoon hear. character generating a multi-million-pound business begs But a side-effect of the simple Miffy the question: Is Miffy a symbol of joy graphics is merchandising. Companies and whimsy in our current political have hit an absolute goldmine by hellscape, or is Miffy just another simply putting Miffy’s face on just symbol of mindless consumerism and about anything, from T-shirts and water consumption that feeds into our longing bottles to badges and plasters. Despite for nostalgia? being originally aimed at children, Miffy-related products are now popular Miffy’s meteoric rise to fame can be put among every age demographic, down to the minimalist style of the Miffy especially women in their teens and books and their effective storytelling. 20s. This has led to the Miffy brand They consist of one page of text and a partnering with other brands, such as full-page illustration on the opposite the much-loved British clothing brand, page, repeated about ten times per Cath Kidston, and creating products like book. A limited colour palette of bags and clothing. saturated shades of blue, green, yellow, red, brown and grey is used, as well as 2025 was the 70th anniversary of Miffy’s black and white, which makes the books creation, and this was celebrated around engaging for a young audience without the world with increased merchandising being overstimulating. and even exhibitions explaining how Miffy was created and some background The text of the stories is composed into stuff about Dick Bruna’s life and earlier four-line rhyming stanzas that are easy work. These exhibitions were visited by to read and effective at breaking down thousands of tourists and fans of Miffy,

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WE FEEL NOSTALGIC FOR A PAST LONG GONE AND DECIDE TO BUY A TOTE BAG SPORTING MIFFY, INSTEAD OF CONSUMING THE CONTENT AS ORIGINALLY INTENDED

Companies have hit an absolute goldmine by simply putting Miffy’s face on just about anything.

giving them a chance to learn more and celebrate the character and its history. There is even a miffy museum in Dick Bruna’s hometown of Utrecht in the Netherlands, which has been open since 2016 and attracts thousands of visitors every year. The museum is aimed at 2-to-6-year-olds and focuses on developing independence and giving young children useful learning experiences.

others argue that Dick Bruna called his bunny Miffy for international translations because it was easier to pronounce and translate into other languages.

This lovable bunny, however, has The Miffy books have been translated not been immune to into over 30 languages. controversy.

There Furthermore, in 1976 The museum is aimed is much debate over at 2-to-6-year-olds and Dick Bruna entered a whether Miffy should focuses on developing legal battle with Sanrio, independence and be referred to by its the Japanese company giving young children English name, Miffy, or behind Hello Kitty, useful learning its original Dutch name, when they introduced a experiences.

Nijntje, because some character called Cathy, a believe that Miffy should white rabbit with a very be called Nijntje out of respect for Dick similar design to Miffy. Bruna pointed Bruna and Miffy’s Dutch origins, but out these similarities, which ended up with Sanrio pulling Cathy from their lineup of characters, opening up a wider conversation about copyright and intellectual property.

Despite these minor controversies, Miffy remains as popular as ever, but is this popularity really justified? Although Miffy gained popularity through the books and storytelling, companies have made millions by slapping its face on products consumers might not ordinarily buy. Part of Miffy’s appeal to the general consumer is that it preys

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on our need for nostalgia in a world which is so rapidly churning out new technology and at the same time experiencing a climate crisis. While the world becomes ever more turbulent, we feel ourselves yearn for a world where everything was simpler and we had fewer worries and responsibilities, and we find these small forms of escapism in characters from our childhood, such as Miffy.

But I believe that we’ve been conditioned, when we want to We find these small feel a certain way, to turn towards forms of escapism in consumption that worsens the characters from our very environmental issues we’re so childhood, such as Miffy. desperately trying to prevent. We feel nostalgic for a past long gone and decide to buy a tote bag sporting Miffy, instead of consuming the content as originally intended and reading the books or embracing the values of problem-solving and teamwork that Miffy was created to embody. This makes me wonder whether all this merchandising is truly in keeping with Dick Bruna’s original vision for Miffy – a cartoon rabbit that he drew for his son to tell stories and make him laugh. ¢

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2025 WAS THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF MIFFY’S CREATION, AND THIS WAS CELEBRATED AROUND THE WORLD WITH INCREASED MERCHANDISING AND EVEN EXHIBITIONS.

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It’s

! e v i Al

It’s

! e v i l A PATRICK LYU considers the relative merits of dualism and materialism in relation to the mystery of consciousness.

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re we really so different from AI and computer algorithms?

Perhaps not without consciousness, which all agree is a bit of a mystery. Consciousness is the state of being aware of one’s surroundings, the ability to see the world from a uniquely subjective, first-person perspective, your perspective. Every minute of your life is experienced in a perspective private to you – seeing, hearing, feeling.

How it happens neurologically is easily explainable by studying human anatomy, but it seems impossible to explain how such physical processes produce a conscious experience.

The key question was coined as ‘The hard problem of consciousness’ by David Chalmers. It is ‘hard’ because it cannot be explained using scientific approaches, and countless philosophers throughout human history have tried to produce an answer. Chalmers also introduced the 42

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concept of ‘philosophical zombies’, a Dualism, famously linked to René thought experiment that encourages Descartes, is the belief that the mind us to imagine a is non-physical and disturbing creature. is separate from the Imagine a creature that body. This belief serves is physically identical as a foundation for to a standard human, several attempts to THIS VIEW IMPLIES THAT as responsive to its explain consciousness.

CONSCIOUSNESS IS A SOULenvironment as any Substance dualists LIKE BEING, ATTACHED TO other human would COMPLEX SYSTEMS SUCH AS A claim that although be, behaving in a way consciousness is HUMAN BRAIN. that is completely immaterial and indistinguishable from us, but without fundamentally detached from the any subjective experience. Truly, there is physical body, its capability of thought no way to differentiate a normal person is very much linked to complex systems from a ‘philosophical zombie’, and the of the physical brain. This view implies possibility to imagine such a creature that consciousness is a soul-like being, raises the uncomfortable question: attached to complex systems such as a what is consciousness, and what are human brain. Property dualists present the conditions for its emergence? a similar argument based on dualist beliefs, in which subjective experiences Historically, philosophers have taken are portrayed as a result of non-physical two main approaches towards the ‘mental properties’ of physical objects, issue of consciousness: dualism and without the involvement of a separate materialism. soul-like existence.

The Integrated Information Theory (IIT), being a popular materialist argument, states that consciousness is a representation of how integrated Dualism, IIT and other philosophical (ability to work together efficiently) and arguments often refer to consciousness, differentiated (ability subjective experience or to be in many different thought being linked to states) information is systems of high complexity. in a system. The theory This inevitably provokes quantifies the ‘level of some of the most debated THIS INEVITABLY PROVOKES integrated information’ question in the field: How SOME OF THE MOST DEBATED or ‘level of consciousness’ complex must a system QUESTION IN THE FIELD: HOW be to support or enable of a system using Φ COMPLEX MUST A SYSTEM (phi), implying that all consciousness?

What BE TO SUPPORT OR ENABLE objects are conscious would a consciousness CONSCIOUSNESS? to a certain degree. A beyond human experience singular atom would be like? Might computer have a low Φ whereas the human brain systems become conscious once a would have a very high Φ. However, this threshold of complexity is achieved? These theory does not provide an explanation questions concerning for some, remain of the nature of conscious experience open till this day, with philosophers, (how it feels) and the implication of scientists and religious believers all looking simple objects possessing a level of for an answer. consciousness often faces criticism.

For me, it is important to think critically, to accept openly varying ideas and to accept our unavoidable ignorance – an individual confined within their own physicality may never truly understand consciousness and the issues surrounding it until their death, when, hopefully, first-hand experience will teach us all the truth behind life and consciousness. ¢

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WHAT WOULD A CONSCIOUSNESS BEYOND HUMAN EXPERIENCE BE LIKE?

Consciousness is the state of being aware of one’s surroundings.

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y l n e v a He MONTY BUTLER says it’s time for us to break free from the drug of religion.

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he opium of the people’ is like people addicted to cocaine or meth, a phrase used by Karl Marx even though they at some point realise to depict religion as a drug it is only doing them harm, members for society that comforts and distracts of their flocks still have to spend more people from seeing and addressing the and more and more. This exploitation real issues of the world. But was he right? is especially cruel because the people Does religion inhibit who donate are often quite progress, and is it a poor and don’t have much drug? I say yes, and money to spare, but the yes. little that they do have spare F YOU PAY A BIT MORE they give to cynical pastors ATTENTION TO WHAT THESE Religion is a drug. hoping their self-sacrifice MEN SAY THEY ARE ALWAYS I have one main will please God. These Bible ASKING FOR DONATIONS piece of evidence Belt pastors are only the WHILE CLAIMING THEY for this claim, and most modern form of the USE THE MONEY TO HELP it is the exploitative swindling charlatan. The PEOPLE. nature of religion. same thing was happening An example is across Europe throughout the many pastors in the Bible Belt of the Middle Ages, when monks would America who preach on Tik Tok, the screw money out of poor peasants by ones who fly in private jets, wear Rolexes claiming it would give them health or and draw huge crowds. You see their buy them a ticket to Heaven. lifestyles and wonder how on Earth they are funding such luxury whilst Religions, like drugs, rule by fear. People only being pastors, but if you pay a bit who take drugs are scared what will more attention to what these men say happen if they stop, just as people of they are always asking for donations faith, especially in Christianity, but also while claiming they use the money to in other religions, still go to church, still help people by building new churches pray every day, and all because they and so on. But this is not what they do fear displeasing their god. Why are they with the money, because most, if not all, scared? Because religion has its own of the donations go toward their lavish nicotine. Hell. The fear of going to Hell, lifestyles. This begs the question: if it is or not going to Heaven or Paradise, is so obvious that they are lying, then why what keeps people enslaved by religion. do they still receive donations? Because, Otherwise, why would spend so much of

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YOU SEE THEIR LIFESTYLES AND WONDER HOW ON EARTH THEY ARE FUNDING SUCH LUXURY WHILST ONLY BEING PASTORS.

their lives trying to please a deity? You can apply the same logic to cigarettes.

Why would people keep smoking and be so committed if it wasn’t for nicotine, the addictive property, like Hell, that keeps people coming back?

Would people care, or even notice, if religion disappeared?

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I’ve shown that religion is a drug, but does it also get in the way of social But why get rid of religion if it isn’t progress? Yes, it does. First, I need to ask hurting anybody? Well, religion does far whether religion is still necessary in the more harm than good, and this is why it has to go. Whilst religion modern world. Regular does have many good church attendance has aspects, I believe the bad dropped by over half Regular church far outweighs the good. in the last 40 years, attendance has although you may see dropped by over half in For example, the western the last 40 years. world today is so liberal reports that claim church it believes everyone can attendance is going up. be who they want to be Whilst this is true, we are talking about less than 12% of the and have equal opportunities. But most population. So, whilst most people in of the churches in the western world this country probably identify with a portray something different, holding faith, with attendance this low, and as onto the views of an old patriarchal low as 4% among those aged 35-50, society that does not exist anymore. would people care, or even notice, if Many branches of Christianity, religion disappeared? especially the Roman Catholic Church, directly contradict the views of our society today, but we allow them to normalise outdated and hateful views about women, LGBTQ+ people and other groups. Yet people don’t bat an eyelid, allowing such bigotry to go on because it has for so long, but at some point we must realise that if the church will not reflect the societies they infest, they cannot be allowed to continue.

Many branches of Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic Church, directly contradict the views of our society today.

Think of this: what we think are liberal candidates for senior posts like the office of papacy are still reluctant to give equal opportunities to women in their church and to allow LGBTQ+ people to be who they are, decades after the rest of the western world has changed for the better in allowing everyone to be equal.

So why, considering all this, do we still have religion as such a pillar in our society? It is because many of us are addicted to it, like opium. We allow ourselves to overlook the obvious faults, shortcomings and outdatedness of religion, so maybe it is time to break once and for all society’s addiction.

Because without it we may finally break the chains of the past and be free to build a future world that we want. Marx was right, and I hope, if you’re not persuaded that he is, that at least you can now see religion differently. ¢

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WILLIAM SHI helps us meaning in our lives.

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ou are standing in a room that has no ceiling, holding a key to a door that was never built. Sometimes, in the silence between songs on the radio, you can hear the static of a universe that never learned how to speak. Tonight, the rain sounds like that static, and for a moment you can almost hear the channel everything is supposed to be on. There is a question that lives in the corner of your eye, just outside your vision. Don’t turn to look at it directly. Just let it sit there, humming. This feeling is not a mistake. It is the truth. We have been lied to by fairy tales. We were promised a script, a divine map with a glowing ‘X’ marking our spot. We search the stars for a sign and find only cold, beautiful fire. We listen for a voice in the wind and hear only air. The universe offers YOUR SADNESS IS NOT no answer because it has never asked A FLAW; IT IS A DEPTH. the question. This realization can YOUR HAPPINESS IS crush you. It can fill you with a sadness NOT A REWARD; IT IS A so profound it feels like gravity itself, TEXTURE. pulling you into the earth. It makes you feel like a ghost in a machine – a fleeting, insignificant glitch. But that is the oldest lie of all. You are not a ghost in the machine. You are the machine dreaming it has a ghost. You are the universe itself, become conscious, waking up and wondering what it is. There is no grand meaning to life. There is only meaning in it. And that meaning is painted in the swatches of colour you gather in the liminality of your emotions: the bruised pastel of a forgotten hour, the violent neon of a 3am street, the deep ultra blue of a private grief. It is the raw, unfiltered data of a burning tear and the uncontrollable glow of a laugh that cracks you open. Your sadness is not a flaw; it is a depth. Your happiness is not a reward; it is a texture. Each emotion, each experience, is a brushstroke on the void. And that ‘or’. That single, terrifying word.

It is the crack where the light gets in. It is the permission to stop looking for the door and to start appreciating the strange, endless architecture of the room. The meaning was never hidden in a star.

It is the star itself, and the ache it creates in you to see it. You are not a key-holder waiting for a lock. You are the static; you are the spectrum; you are the universe feeling its own weight and painting its own canvas with every shuddering, glorious breath. And that’s what brings meaning into your life. ¢

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Britain RUPERT BRETT says Great Britain is now Brand Britain.

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he modern British identity has the harmful kind of patriotism can be evolved over the years alongside attributed to this period when those who empire, industrialisation and reminisce get caught up. consumer culture. The British Empire not only expanded Britain’s territorial reach Through the First and Second World Wars but also created a cultural and ideological British society had been bound together need to project power, a drive that by a persistent and all-consuming threat. became embedded in The idea of national its brands. People feared identity became strongly the British before they instilled within the British invaded. British goods and people; it became not BRITISH INDUSTRY BECAME symbols became a tool merely a matter of pride A SYMBOL OF THE NATION’S of soft power signifying but of survival. While men RESILIENCE, OF COLLECTIVE refinement, authority, and fought abroad, women ENDURANCE, A REDEFINITION moral superiority, masking took control of factories, OF WHAT IT MEANT TO BE the exploitative systems producing everything from BRITISH. which sustained them. ammunition to uniforms.

In this way, early British War production was linked branding benefited not only economically to patriotism, and warehouses were turned but also ideologically from the empire’s into engines of both ammunition and global dominance. pride. British industry became a symbol of the nation’s resilience, of collective Britain was no longer a little island on a endurance, a redefinition of what it meant map. It was an idea, one that demanded to be British. belief. The power of the British ‘brand’ was such that it preceded conquest – by the The post-war decades saw the rebranding union jack, the royal insignia, and the men of Britain as modern, creative and in red. Icons of British civility instilled both aspirational through mediums like the fear and admiration long before military Design Council and the 1951 Festival of or administrative control arrived on the Britain, which tried to reframe Britain shore. This combination of strength and from its tainted imperial past towards psychological torment enabled Britain an innovative future. Brands like Mini, to secure, at its peak, nearly one third of Penguin Books and later Virgin embodied the globe’s land mass. This impressive a playful modernity that paralleled cultural but tyrannical reign ended quite abruptly movements in music and fashion. The after Britain’s grip began to weaken, and branding of Britain was no longer about

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THE POST-WAR DECADES SAW THE REBRANDING OF BRITAIN AS MODERN, CREATIVE AND ASPIRATIONAL.

Britain, once the master of imperial projection, now relies on branding to assert its relevance in a post-industrial and postimperial world.

hierarchy and power; it was about style, accessibility and youth, driven by the cultural chaos that had ensued. In this case, its brands had shaped Britain.

The people had a thirst for novelty, and this was evident in the brands that defined post-war Britain. After years of restraint, consumers searched for colour, exuberance and creativity, something that demonstrated a break from austerity.

Now Brand Britain is a deliberate construct that we exploit to promote exports through a national self-image By the 21st Century, some brands had built upon heritage, quality and become synonymous with Britain creativity. The irony here is that Britain, across the world: Barbour, Bentley, Rolls once the master of imperial projection, Royce, Burberry, Ascot, now relies on branding Aston Martin, Land Rover, to assert its relevance Now Brand Britain is Fortnum and Mason, in a post-industrial and a deliberate construct Cadbury, Walkers, Jaguar, post-imperial world. Its that we exploit to promote exports Boodles, and others. This trade has shifted from through a national brought an economic production to perception, self-image built upon and political climate a manufacture of image heritage, quality and that became entwined rather than goods. Now creativity. with entrepreneurship, with high-street brands individuality and reverting to narrative, aspiration. Richard Branson’s Virgin Brand Britain helps sustain household Group embodied a new kind of British names. Burberry’s rebrand from their identity, daring and unapologetically modern and rather boring minimalist commercial. The nation’s image had 2010s logo, back to the Equestrian been shifted, from imperial tyranny Knight, represents a larger cultural to creative enterprise (in moderation shift in the way people value quality – leaning towards mass consumerism and heritage. In a society of screens, on some levels). Importantly, media bombarded with dopamine hits, and fashion helped to export this people crave authenticity more than modernized identity abroad. ever and they are willing to pay.

But in modern Britain there is a divide in attitude towards strategy.

Emerging brands chase modernity and relevance while heritage brands embrace the comfort and continuity of their legacy. In contrast to Burberry,

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Barbour has been repositioning itself to appeal to a wider audience, one that doesn’t always reside in a muddy sheep-filled field but rather the streets of Kensington and Chelsea.

Once synonymous with countryside We live in an age where walks and muddy wellington boots, there are two main Barbour is being remodeled through constituent camps – endless collaborations with fashionone that needs instant forward brands like Levi’s and ARKET. gratification and another This is to appeal to a new market of that wants a slice of the Londoners who strive for a look that old, a buffer between them and reality. evokes rural living without the muck. We live in an age where there are two main constituent camps – one that needs instant gratification and another that wants a slice of the old, a buffer between them and reality.

The relationship between Britain and its brands is a dynamic feedback loop, a reciprocal exchange in which one shapes the other in different moments. While in the past Britain has shaped its brands through conflict and national identity, its brands now shape Britain as the reins are taken over by different strands of society. The result today is an image depicted and negotiated by commerce, culture and collective imagination.

While globally Britain can be seen by some as a failing society, I believe we are not in the bin just yet. If we were, British brands would by now be owned by people overseas. ¢

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BARBOUR IS BEING REMODELED THROUGH ENDLESS COLLABORATIONS WITH FASHIONFORWARD BRANDS LIKE LEVI’S AND ARKET.

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Purpos e LINA WANG grew to love exercise but only after she realized it was not about how you look..

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or a long time, exercise was a chore. I never enjoyed sport. Exercising was like doing laundry without a washing machine. I gave it my all, but the clothes still came out dirty. To be honest, I wasn’t really giving it my all. You can’t commit to a sport if you don’t want to do it.

body still looked the same but I felt lighter and happier and more productive.

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Then I started rowing. Everyone says it’s like a cult that you can’t leave and I guess that’s true since you can’t fake an erg split: it’s full commitment or nothing; every stroke hurts; every breath is painful. This was the first time my muscles THIS WAS THE FIRST ever felt sore – after my first TIME MY MUSCLES EVER rowing session, but somehow FELT SORE – AFTER MY the pain became addictive. It FIRST ROWING SESSION, forces you to push yourself to BUT SOMEHOW THE PAIN your limits.

Back then I cared only about my appearance. I didn’t care about building endurance or improving my cardiovascular system. It was invisible if it didn’t show in the mirror. I BECAME ADDICTIVE. despised running, but after butchering my cross-country One day I noticed my event at school I told myself things needed shoulders had grown, and that’s what got to change. I would prepare for cross country me into resistance training. I genuinely next year by running with my sister every think that everyone should give this a go: I day. She was way faster than me so on the guarantee you will see real progress if you first day of the holiday I lost to her. I felt start. humiliated but I thought maybe I should just accept it and grit my way through cross It was satisfying to see progress, not in how country next time. I didn’t stop, and the next I looked but in what I could do. I still cared day I managed to run a little bit more, and about how exercise would affect my body, it kept going like that. By the end of the but not just physically any more – mentally month, I could comfortably run 3km. My as well. ¢

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ELEANOR HOGG explores the disastrous results of inbreeding.

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e all know what a dog is and history nerds know about the Habsburg dynasty. But how are they related? The answer is incest!

The bizarre human desire to control everything from royal bloodlines to the lengths of dogs’ noses has caused inbreeding in royal families and modern pugs so that both have involved medical issues that fall foul of a basic law: the survival of the fittest.

The Habsburgs were a royal family in power in many European countries. The particular branch I will be writing about held power in Spain from 1516 to 1700.

The royal line ended with King Charles the Second, who died at the age of 38 due to chronic kidney failure, a result of lifelong health problems.

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The main reason for these health struggled with eating and speaking. problems was, you guessed it, incest! After his death doctors claimed he ‘did Charles the Second not contain a single drop was more inbred than of blood; his heart was if he was the son of the size of a peppercorn; a brother and sister. his lungs were corroded; This was a result of his intestines were rotten THEY WANTED TO CONTROL multiple generations of and gangrenous; he had POWER SO THEY RULED intermarriage between a single testicle, as black OUT THE POSSIBILITY OF cousins and twice as a coal; and his head OTHER POWERFUL FAMILIES between uncle and was full of water.’ Whilst a MARRYING INTO POWER. niece. Not only is this lot of this may have been frankly a bit disturbing propaganda, it does give but it is also genetically damaging. For us an idea of the problems caused by instance, the Habsburgs were famous inbreeding. for their ‘Habsburg Jaw’, a distinctive jaw line that was a result of constant But how does this have anything inbreeding. But there is more: Charles to do with our four-legged friends? the Second was mentally and physically Inbreeding! Pugs are those small dogs disabled. His tongue was so swollen he with squashed faces. Well, guess what,

pugs are also very inbred! Pugs are one example but brachycephalic breeds (squished-face dogs) all suffer from inbreeding. English bulldogs are the most common dog seen in the vets due to health problems caused by inbreeding. Pugs and other dogs with squashed faces suffer from diseases such as Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS), joint and bone problems due to their unnatural structure, behavioural and neurological issues, as well as other genetic disorders, all because of inbreeding. Some experts even say that pugs and bulldogs may not exist much longer, which is honestly not surprising since they lack many important structures, such as the complex breathing system that dogs use to explore their environment. They were bred for small heads so their skulls became smaller more quickly than the rest of their head could adapt, leaving the tissues folded and cramped. But why?

We can see that inbreeding causes problems in both dogs and humans, so why do we do it?

Control. The Habsburgs wanted a ‘pure’ bloodline so they used incest until it became their downfall.

They wanted to control power so they ruled

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THEY HAVE BEEN SELECTIVELY BRED WITH OTHER DOGS WHO HAD THE SAME ‘CUTE’ APPEARANCE, WHICH RESULTED IN INCEST DAMAGING THEIR GENETICS.

out the possibility of other powerful families marrying into power (which, ironically enough, is how the Habsburgs gained power in Spain) with intermarriage and incest. Humans also wanted to control the appearance of their dogs. You can see the devolution of Brachycephalic breeds by looking at pictures of them a hundred years ago.

Humans wanted ‘cuter’ dogs with tiny ears and squished faces but that is not normal. They should not look like that. They have been selectively bred with other dogs who had the same ‘cute’ appearance, which resulted in incest damaging their genetics. A desire to keep royal families pure (the Habsburgs were not the only ones) resulted in their downfall, and dogs suffer from our obsession with ‘cuteness’.

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ENGLISH BULLDOGS ARE THE MOST COMMON DOG SEEN IN THE VETS DUE TO HEALTH PROBLEMS CAUSED

BY INBREEDING.

Incest may be genetically disastrous but it is woven heavily into the crazy ambitions of human history. ¢

Charles the Second was more inbred than if he was the son of a brother and sister.

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LYANNA FIKURY is maddened by the human demonisation of sharks.

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I WAS SCUBA-DIVING WITH MY INSTRUCTOR WHEN A TIGER SHARK GLIDED PAST GRACEFULLY. WE WERE NOT INTIMIDATED, NOR FRIGHTENED, BUT WATCHED IN AWE.

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harks. Running joke in the family on beach day. Scare your siblings. Fill every marine film with blood. Fuel everyone’s deepest sea fears. Barely understood beyond dorsal fin and jagged teeth.

In 2024 there were 68 shark attacks globally.

Four were fatal. 64 were not. But humans villainise sharks and kill 100 million every year, mostly to make tasteless and nutritionally poor soup. There are more than five hundred shark species, and we still see all of them as a threat.

But sharks play a vital role in the underwater ecosystem. As apex predators of the deep, they keep the food chain in balance. As carnivores, But what if I told you that sharks are just gentle they control the population of sick, invasive or giants? I was scuba-diving with my instructor overpopulated fish and in the process strengthen when a tiger shark glided past gracefully. We fish genetics. Sharks also benefit humans in were not intimidated, nor frightened, but many ways when scientists study watched in awe. But in the fantasy their tissue for anti-coagulant and of a greedy film director the story antibacterial properties. Decades would have ended disastrously. from now, this research could be the backbone of survival for At that moment, the realisation WITH MILLIONS OF many. dawned on me: our perception SHARKS KILLED BY US of sharks has been shaped by EACH YEAR, HOW CAN Human beings are not part of a the media. Fear sells big, and IT BE REASONABLE TO PLACE ‘PRECAUTIONS’ AT shark’s diet. That is the truth, not production companies know it.

A COASTLINE, SUCH AS what dumb movies make it out Films make more profit if they to be. What looks like aggression are packed with gore, terror and WIDE NETS THAT TANGLE is usually careful investigation any monster narrative. As a result, UP SHARKS AND OTHER because for most sharks men sharks are constantly put in a bad ANIMALS? and women are not a regular light just for entertainment. For sight. Investigation can include circling, even example, the film ‘Jaws’ made $US500,000 in gentle biting, which generates fear through 1975, equivalent to three billion dollars today. misunderstanding.

The creators profited from an exaggerated view of the deep-sea predators, encouraging a public With millions of sharks killed by us each year, fear of sharks. how can it be reasonable to place ‘precautions’ at a coastline, such as wide nets that tangle Most of the time when we criticise sharks, we up sharks and other animals? Shark culling is take the anthropocentric approach. Many news common these days due to negative stereotypes headings sensationalise something as basic as and bizarre beliefs. a shiver of sharks being spotted at the coast, framing it as an infestation, warning readers that Undisturbed, the sharks will continue to roam they ‘require protection’. the waters, and it is crucial that we leave them just as they are. Our fear of sharks says more about us than it says about them.

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It’s their planet as well as ours. ¢

There are more than five hundred shark species, and we still see all of them as a threat.

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NEHA WIJEYERATNE explores Lake Baikal, which is not at all like any other lake. Not even close.

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hile many anomalies exist in Nature, Unlike most deep lakes, Baikal’s deepest none can beat Lake Baikal. In Southern waters remain cold and rich in oxygen.

Siberia, Lake Baikal is called a lake but Usually, in larger lakes, deep water becomes behaves more like an inland ocean, equally stagnant and oxygen-poor, limiting life. vast and equally unpredictable. The oldest (Plants struggle to photosynthesise in and deepest freshwater lake on Earth, Lake low light conditions.) Baikal, however, Baikal has had 28 million years avoids this fate because to develop a distinct and cold temperatures increase unusual ecosystem, with a oxygen solubility and web of conditions that almost underwater currents prevent LAKE BAIKAL HAS HAD never occur together in nature: stagnation, making it possible 28 MILLION YEARS TO extreme age, immense depth, for complex organisms to DEVELOP A DISTINCT AND unusual geological activity flourish. It’s for this reason UNUSUAL ECOSYSTEM, and undisturbed isolation. that many Baikal organisms WITH A WEB OF CONDITIONS THAT ALMOST exhibit characteristics more Most lakes are geologically typical of marine than of NEVER OCCUR TOGETHER short-lived, filling up with freshwater species.

IN NATURE. sediment from inflowing rivers and disappearing over tens of thousands With a surface area slightly larger than of years. Lake Baikal is a striking exception.

Belgium, Lake Baikal is the deepest It lies within the Baikal Rift Zone, where freshwater lake in the world (though not the the Eurasian Plate is pulling away from the largest), reaching a depth of approximately Amurian Plate. This tectonic movement 1,700 meters. Even more remarkable are has created a rift valley that continues to its sediment layers, which preserve an widen and deepen over time, creating uninterrupted record of deposition spanning hydrothermal vents and releasing minerals millions of years. These sediment deposits into the water. This is the foundation of reach depths of 8 to 11 kilometres, making lake Baikal’s evolutionary divergence: the Baikal Rift Zone the deepest continental immense depth caused by the ever-growing rift on the planet. rift of tectonic plates creates stable, cold conditions that allow for a rich vertical With over 2,500 animal and 1,000 plant stratification of habitats, preventing the lake species, Lake Baikal contains the highest from freezing during glacial periods, and level of endemism of any freshwater body allowing its inhabitants millennia of isolated on Earth, with over 60% of its species found evolution and high endemism (restriction to nowhere else. Baikal has persisted long a native area). enough for species to diversify and develop

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BAIKAL HOSTS VERTICALLY STRATIFIED COMMUNITIES AND TROPHIC LEVELS THAT RESEMBLE MARINE ECOLOGICAL RATHER THAN FRESHWATER ROLES.

Lake Baikal is more than just a lake; it’s a symbol of nature’s power and mystery.

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characteristics similar to those found in marine systems. A key contributor to this biodiversity is the presence of hydrothermal vents along the lake’s rift zone. These vents release minerals such as iron, silica and methane into the water, providing a nutrient-rich habitat freshwater seal species in the world. for Lake Baikal’s complex ecosystem. Genetic evidence suggests its ancestors These mineral inputs support microbial may have entered Baikal from Arctic communities that contribute to a marine populations during glacial stable cycle that feeds more complex periods and became isolated, though organisms all year round, physiological evidence unlike other lakes that (such as the shape of Lake Baikal is not only typically host shorter, their skull) suggests they a natural treasure, seasonal food-webs. may be closely related to but a popular tourist As a result, Baikal hosts another inland Caspian attraction and it vertically stratified Seal. Baikal seals have is fundamental to communities and trophic thick blubber, delayed scientists’ exploration. levels that resemble reproduction, long marine ecological rather lifespans, and deepthan freshwater roles. No two species diving behaviour and hunting habits, display this more than the Baikal seal all similar to traits of Arctic marine (Pusa sibirica) and the golomyanka seals. The seals are Lake Baikal’s top (Comephorus). predators, stabilising and controlling prey populations.

The Nerpa seal, Lake Baikal’s sole species of mammal, is the only exclusively Golomyanka, by contrast, occupy the pelagic mid-water zone (the open water of a lake, excluding the shallow near-shore and lake bed areas), making them the most abyssal (relating to depth) freshwater fish in the world.

These bizarre fish are oil-rich and fatty, serving as the predominant primary consumers of the ecosystem.

Golomyanka are scale-less, giving them

a translucent exterior. They give live birth, lack swim bladders (internal, gas-filled organs in most bony fish that control buoyancy, allowing them to maintain depth without constantly swimming), and migrate vertically Tectonic movement through the water column – all has created a rift valley traits found in deep-sea fishes. that continues to widen Furthermore, Golomyanka have and deepen over time, have cannibalistic tendencies, creating hydrothermal swallowing their own young, or vents and releasing plankton, amphipods and larvae. minerals into the water.

Lake Baikal is not only a natural treasure, but a popular tourist attraction and it is fundamental to scientists’ exploration. In 1996, Lake Baikal was declared a UNESCO world heritage site, highlighting its global importance and the need to protect it for future generations. Lake Baikal is more than just a lake; it’s a symbol of nature’s power and mystery. Protecting Lake Baikal means protecting one of the most extraordinary ecosystems on Earth. ¢

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BAIKAL SEALS HAVE THICK BLUBBER, DELAYED REPRODUCTION, LONG LIFESPANS, AND DEEP-DIVING BEHAVIOUR AND HUNTING HABITS, ALL SIMILAR TO TRAITS OF ARCTIC MARINE SEALS.

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n e e Gr

Land GRAB

Greenland is no longer news but JAYDEN KONG knows exactly why it once was.

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n early January 2025, before taking office, Trump had revealed a desire to control Greenland, not excluding the use of economic or military force. Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, found between North America and the Arctic, so why would Trump want this piece of land?

And why now?

The original motive for the acquisition of Greenland was defence and surveillance. It was historically valued for its critical location, allowing for tracking and monitoring, and preventing ‘hostile powers’ from getting a foothold in the North Atlantic; even now, preventing Russia and China from establishing a presence in the Arctic keeps a major threat out of America’s strategic interests.

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However, its new motives are far more talks with NATO secretary-general, complicated. In recent years, there Mark Rutte, pledging not to use tariffs has been increasing to annex Greenland, interest in Greenland’s before reneging on his natural resources, word in early January including rare minerals, 2026, stating that a uranium, and iron. It IN RECENT YEARS, THERE HAS 10% tariff would be also holds significant imposed on Denmark, BEEN INCREASING INTEREST undiscovered oil and Norway, Sweden, IN GREENLAND’S NATURAL gas, with an estimated France, Germany, RESOURCES, INCLUDING RARE 31.4 billion barrels the United Kingdom, MINERALS, URANIUM, AND of oil, which would the Netherlands, and IRON. significantly boost the Finland starting on 1 US economy. On top of that, as the February 2026 before raising it to a 25% Arctic ice slowly melts, new, shorter tariff on 1 June unless Denmark agreed shipping routes are opening, which to sell Greenland to the US. the US aims to secure to shorten trade routes from Europe to Asia.

As of 21 January, Trump had still not ruled out force to take Greenland, What has the Trump administration but if he were to use force let’s done so far? On 21 January 2025, look at the ramifications for the US. Trump abandoned tariff threats after Militarily, the operation would be

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POLITICALLY, THE OPERATION WOULD BE CATASTROPHIC. DENMARK COULD MAKE APPEALS TO NATO AND TAKE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ACTION.

simple and straightforward: US forces would rapidly establish control over key infrastructure – securing airfields, ports, and communications. Politically, the operation would be catastrophic. Denmark could make appeals to NATO and take international legal action, but any type of military response against the US would be symbolic at best. Instead, an invasion would destroy America’s alliance network. Whilst NATO has no mechanism to resolve such disputes among members, such an action would raise questions about the merits and value of aligning with the United States in the near future, the strategic consequences making allies question the reliability of the US.

Trump’s renewed interest in Greenland reveals the dark and ugly side of American power.

So, Trump’s renewed interest in Greenland reveals the dark and ugly side of American power when others refuse to give into its bullying. Their power is framed as unilateral and is rooted in military superiority and economic pressure rather than legitimacy.

The threat against America is not that they lack strength, but that pursuing such action risks eroding the alliances that have historically made the US dominant, and this is why military action has not been seen yet, and will not be seen. ¢

As the Arctic ice slowly melts, new, shorter shipping routes are opening, which the US aims to secure.

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Intentions LILY ROBERTSON compares our culture’s polar perceptions of female sexuality.

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emale sexuality is caught been telegraphed a sin. If you live your between two extremes: entire life dismissing it as forbidden, repression and performance. We how practical is the transition on are facing changes in our society and your wedding night? Furthermore, how we understand ourselves. On one anxiety about intercourse does not hand we have ‘purity culture’, which vanish when you grow up. It’s difficult refers to a woman’s to understand why we worth corresponding plant seeds of doubt with virginity, modesty in young people’s or ‘saving herself’ for minds at early ages, marriage. On the other and watch those seeds hand we have what fester. Many who are BOYS ARE OFTEN some call pejoratively or raised in purity cultures ALLOWED LENIENCY, ironically ‘thot culture’. experience guilt, WHILE GIRLS BEAR THE This makes claims to a sexual dysfunction and BURDEN OF UPHOLDING hyper-sexualized, selfdifficulty embracing THIS TRADITIONAL promotional aesthetic intimacy later in life.

MORALITY. in which sexual visibility And for victims of sexual is portrayed as power. violence, purity culture Both assert moral clarity and personal absolutely adds an unnecessary authority. Both, potentially, leave and unearned layer of self-blame. women confined rather than free. So, It suggests they are now somehow which is more harmful? ruined because of something far beyond their control. Moreover, purity Purity culture is rooted in religious culture is so rarely applied equally. or conservative ideologies, and Catcalling and casual objectification regularly leads with the notion that from some men is far too frequent, sex is shameful outside heterosexual and the way certain people go about marriage. The damage of purity culture disgracing more modern women is falls on women being told to cover ridiculous. Boys are often allowed up, to abstain, to guard their bodies. leniency, while girls bear the burden Being desired is being in danger; of upholding this traditional morality. acting on desire is falling from grace. This culture reinforces patriarchal What we find under this approach control. Her body is not her own; are young girls associating sex with instead it is a symbol, a site of virtue shame, something natural which has and a test of restraint.

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“

As a response to this repression, a new cultural narrative has emerged. It preaches radical sexual openness, stylish liberation and unapologetic bodily autonomy. ‘Hot girl summer’, TikTok thirst traps, OnlyFans. These new elements claim to empower women through pleasure, choice and visibility. This rebellious attitude is highly appealing, appears welcoming, but is also profitable. There’s a fine line between taking control and performative behaviour.

Are we fighting for our own rights, or for likes, followers and male validation? Sex sells. People understand their audiences more than ever online, and a problem with that culture is people’s questionable intentions. Despite being built on feminist roots, the culture of hyper-sexualization quite frankly mirrors the same old objectification, but now filtered through a lens of capitalism. If a woman’s value used to depend on modesty in

A NEW CULTURAL NARRATIVE HAS EMERGED. IT PREACHES RADICAL SEXUAL OPENNESS, STYLISH LIBERATION AND UNAPOLOGETIC BODILY AUTONOMY. ‘HOT GIRL SUMMER’, TIKTOK THIRST TRAPS, ONLYFANS.

Are we more free if we are simply being bought and sold on different terms? the previous status quo, now it risks depending on her marketability. Are we more free if we are simply being bought and sold on different terms?

Young girls, especially, are targeted with this kind of media: the pressure to be sexy before understanding sex; the way it’s no longer an adult thing but a part of their world. For example, on TikTok there’s the ‘Bop House’, where OnlyFans creators live together and make videos on the platform about how much money they make, and how glamorous it is to be a porn star. It’s not adults on TikTok. This marketing strategy caters for teenagers, and it aims to normalize prostitution and widen its industry. The original liberation has been commercialized.

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PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THEIR AUDIENCES MORE THAN EVER ONLINE, AND A PROBLEM WITH THAT CULTURE IS PEOPLE’S QUESTIONABLE INTENTIONS.

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Always ensure that your intentions are correct when you are in these conversations, and don’t hide behind the inauthentic assertion that you want what’s best for women.

THE DAMAGE OF PURITY CULTURE FALLS ON WOMEN BEING TOLD TO COVER UP, TO ABSTAIN, TO GUARD THEIR BODIES.

But this argument is a false dichotomy. The truth is that purity culture and thot culture are two sides of the same coin. Each reduces females to their sexuality at their extremes, and what’s important is real freedom. True equality is not restriction or exhibitionism; it is unaltered choice. What we desperately need is a framework, one that can cater to sexual wholeness rather than purity or performance. We must recognize that sexuality is part of being human, not all of it. Open discussions like these are vital to our growth as a society, especially since morality is purely subjective.

Sex means something different to everyone, but pushing the agenda that it can only be one thing, or that a woman is only good for one thing in any context is blatantly misguided. The world is not inhabited by just one group of people. Always ensure that your intentions are correct when you are in these conversations, and don’t hide behind the inauthentic assertion that you want what’s best for women. Ask: is it genuine advocation for traditional, respectful, intimate relationships, or does it stem from the hatred of women’s liberation, the desire to subjugate women? I recognize in full that this is a provocative statement to make, but I don’t see the use in tiptoeing around instead of exchanging significant ideas. For a change to be made, something needs to happen. The future is right in front of us and we should seize it.

The goal of finding this hopeful middle ground with bodily identity is to not replace one doctrine with another, but to dismantle the ideology that female sexuality is ever a matter for public ownership. ¢ Mind’s Eye | July 2026

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Virgil

s u n r e Aet omage h s y a p V y AHA SHIRA L poet whose legac an . to a Rom d well to this day is alive an

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In his Eclogues, Virgil explores pastoral themes from the perspective of shepherds, idealising a rural lifestyle.

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t is ironic that on his death bed in southern Italy, Publius Vergilius Maro (fl. 70 – 19 BCE) asked for his incomplete epic, The Aeneid, to be burnt, a selfdestructive act echoed by the likes of Emily Dickinson, Franz Kafka and Gerard Manley Hopkins in more recent times. The poem had been over a decade in the making and would go on to be a jewel in the crown of Rome’s most established and celebrated poet, alongside his Eclogues and Georgics. Thankfully, the poet, better known as Virgil, did not have this final wish honoured, the poems going on to shape Western thought and religion, the poet both lauded and vilified by the Church.

The epic provided a rich cultural heritage for its original Roman audience, allowing them to trace their roots back to the Trojan War and to Ilium (the modern-day Çanakkale province in the Republic of Türkiye) as the descendants of the Trojan hero, Aeneas. This mythological heritage was later adopted by the elite in Renaissance Italy, who Virgil rose to prominence during his lifetime, after being would have scenes from the Aeneid painted on their walls, scouted by Maecenas (68 - 8 BCE), a trusted advisor to often with political, allegorical symbolism, showcasing Augustus, the man best known as the founder of the their piety, wisdom, or military skill depending on what Roman Empire after the fall of Julius they wished to emphasise. Marriage chests Caesar. In his Eclogues, Virgil explores also would be adorned with scenes from pastoral themes from the perspective the Aeneid, but these would focus on the of shepherds, idealising a rural lifestyle love of Aeneas and Lavinia (treated rather often repeated in his later works. He unsentimentally in the epic) rather than THE POEM HAD BEEN discusses land confiscations (poignant commemorating his illicit affair with Dido.

OVER A DECADE IN THE for a generation still reeling from the MAKING AND WOULD GO proscriptions of Sulla in 82 BCE) and Despite some detractors, Virgil also had a ON TO BE A JEWEL IN both homosexual and heterosexual love profound influence on Christianity. Saint THE CROWN OF ROME’S in its happy and unrequited forms, the Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 CE), a MOST ESTABLISHED AND combination of eroticism and visionary leading Church Father of early Christianity, CELEBRATED POET. politics elevating Virgil to celebrity read him as a teenager, recalling in his status in his lifetime. His Georgics, commissioned by Confessions how he wept in particular for the character and dedicated to Maecenas, are written in the didactic of Dido, who, heartbroken and betrayed by Aeneas’ (how to) style of the Greek Hesiod’s Works and Days, departure, commits suicide when he leaves North Africa to instructing the reader in a range of agricultural practices sail to Italy. Augustine studied and taught at Carthage for from raising crops to keeping bees. a time and empathised with the queen due to their shared African connections. Augustine often felt great nostalgia The Aeneid was commissioned by Augustus to rival for a bygone time when Carthage was a major empire and the Greek epics of Homer. The epic swiftly replaced in North Africa was independent from Roman rule. schools the existing texts of the Roman poet, Ennius, and has been studied as a vital part of the curriculum However, whilst Augustine held much love for the part the ever since. It follows the story of the Trojan, Aeneas, Aeneid made up of his education, preferring it by far to the who, after the destruction of his city in the Trojan War, arduous technicalities of ab initio Greek and Mathematics, is forced to found a new place in which to settle – in the his later reflections are not so flattering – he describes land of Italy and what was to become the city of Rome. his former adoration of Dido’s tragedy as pursuing ‘the On his journey he encounters the Carthaginian Queen, lowest things of [God’s] creation’. Instead, he wishes Dido, with whom he begins a passionate relationship, he had sought God sooner, likening the Aeneid and its before having to leave and found Lavinium, named writer to something sinful and heretical. Nonetheless the after the Italian woman he eventually marries. He also contemporary French Latinist, Jacques Fontaine, maintains visits the Underworld, and in Italy fights a brutal war that Augustine could not have conceived the ‘interior with the Latins, native to the land. landscapes’ of his Confessions without Virgil’s influence.

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Likewise, the 8th Century Anglo-Latin scholar and clergyman, Alcuin of York, told his students that ‘the divine poets are enough for you; you do not need the luxurious eloquence of Virgil to pollute you.’ Jean du Vergier de Hauranne (1518 – 1643), the Abbot of Saint Cyran, expressed a similar sentiment to his pupils by declaring Virgil’s writing selfindulgent, but conceded that he must be studied thoroughly for the sake of his good Latin. In perhaps the most extreme aversion to Virgilian influence, the 10th Century Saint Odo of Cluny abandoned his studies of the Aeneid after a dream in which Virgil’s poetry appeared as a beautiful vase teeming with deadly serpents.

Whilst all of this characterises Virgil’s reception as some sort of forbidden fruit only to be used for the sake of linguistic dexterity, the interpretations of his so-called Messianic Eclogue (Eclogue IV) helped to sanctify his work in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, leading many, like Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), to see him as a ‘virtuous pagan’. In the Fourth Eclogue, written forty years before the advent of Jesus Christ, Virgil predicts the birth of a divine boy who will eventually ‘rule a peaceful world with his father’s powers’. He describes an earthly utopia in subsequent years, with major agricultural advances, noting how ‘the ram in the meadows will change his fleece himself, now to a sweetly blushing purple, now to a saffron yellow’.

The Aeneid was also interpreted allegorically as the triumph of virtue over passion, Aeneas’s abandonment of Dido seen as him fulfilling his filial piety, serving the greater vision of Rome. The work Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius by the 17th Century sculptor, Bernini, captures this, suggesting the importance of familial ties above all else with the depiction of father, son, and grandson. This veneration by many of the most powerful of institutions contributed to the preservation of Virgil’s poetry, monks recording his writings in monasteries, also leading to a wonderful plethora of illustrated manuscripts depicting scenes of the Aeneid and of Virgil himself. One such 72

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notable example is the illustrated 5th Century manuscript, Vergilius Romanus.

respectively) as a symbol of patriotism whilst reaching a wider audience.

Virgil is perhaps best known for his role as guide in Dante’s Divine Comedy, a poem which has provided a vast amount of inspiration in itself.

Virgil leads the author through the circles, rings, and terraces of Hell and Purgatory. Dante was very much inspired by Virgil’s depiction of Dis in Book VI of the Aeneid, the ideas of confession and repentance combined with a defined area for each of the sins serving as clear inspiration for Christian thought on death in general. In Inferno and Purgatorio Virgil symbolises knowledge and thought; due to his paganism he can go no further and is replaced in Paradiso by Beatrice, the muse and inspiration of Dante’s earlier works, who here is a symbol of divine love. Dante also draws on Book IV of Virgil’s Georgics, echoing Orpheus’s final farewell to Eurydice in his goodbye to Virgil. References to rivers and horrible tortures show clear Virgilian influence. Both poets also wrote in their vernacular (Latin and Italian,

The English poet John Milton (1608 – 1674) also draws upon Virgil to a great extent in Paradise Lost and beyond.

The idea of an Henry Purcell overlap between wrote what many the Classics and consider to be Christian thought the first English is clearly expressed opera, Dido and here.

On the Aeneas, by focusing Morning of ‘Christ’s on Book IV of the Nativity’ expresses Aeneid. some regret amongst the ‘ninefold harmony’ (XIII, l.131) beckoning the coming of Christ.

Milton describes ‘weeping’ and ‘loud lament’ (XX, l.183) from the nymphs and pagan deities, which provoked his political opponents to question the sincerity of his Christian faith, whilst notable atheists enjoyed Milton more greatly. The English literary critic and poet, William Empson (1906 – 1984), who saw organised religion as inexplicably tied to social oppression, famously quipped in his work, Milton’s God, that ‘the reason why the poem is

The English poet John Milton (1608 – 1674) also draws upon Virgil to a great extent.

so good is that it makes God so bad’. Whilst Milton had originally wanted to write Paradise Lost as a drama, he aborted this idea due to the difficulties of portraying Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the Fall on stage.

Thus, he drew inspiration from the Aeneid, subverting the characteristics of military prowess championed in the Aeneid and its Greek counterparts of the Odyssey and the Iliad by giving these to Satan.

Virgil’s influence can be seen in music too. The 17th Century composer, Henry Purcell, wrote what many consider to be the first English opera, Dido and Aeneas, by focusing on Book IV of the Aeneid. The closing aria, Dido’s Lament, ‘When I am laid in Earth’, has also inspired more contemporary works, such as the closing track, Magnolias, in the Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalía’s 2025 album, LUX. However, Rosalía subverts the idea of death as a tragedy, as seen in the Aeneid, and instead takes inspiration from the Indian saint, teacher and mystic Anandamayi Ma (1896 - 1982), who thinks of death as a celebration of life.

Ultimately, Virgil permeates the very frameworks of Western religion, culture, literature and art, acting as the underlying fabric of a rich tapestry of poems, epics, plays and music. A rather impressive legacy for a poet who wanted his work to be burnt more than two millennia ago! ¢

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Getty Images: Darrian Traynor

SEB CLARK blames lack of faith in a winning formula for England’s Ashes failure down-under.

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arly summer 2022. Joe Root, England Skipper, and Chris Silverwood, Coach, resign after winning one out of the last 17 test matches. Rob Key, newly appointed Managing Director of England Cricket, is in charge of recruiting the new England Head Coach and Captain. He wants England to be exhilarating to watch and he wants a new style of play where you always take the game to the opposition, and who better than former Kiwi cricketer, Brendon McCullum, and current all-rounder, Ben Stokes, to take on the roles. Their fearless, high-risk ultra-positive brand of cricket quickly became synonymous with McCullum and Stokes and was dubbed Bazball.

With new leadership, England won 16 of their first 21 tests at a run rate of almost 5 – something fans would have laughed at even the thought of under 74

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Root. So, why did we fail when it came to the 25/26 ashes? Was it the pitches?

The lack of commitment? Or, perhaps, was it the management of their risk?

Bairstow scored 136 from only 92 balls, and Skipper Ben Stokes scored the winning runs, taking 75 off 70 balls.

What brought this side so much success The first series under Stokes and was not that they were much better McCullum, in 2022, saw England facing than any other. It was the brilliant New Zealand in a threecaptaincy of Ben test series, beginning at Stokes, the aggressive Lord’s where England ideology and crucially convincingly chased their balance of risk OUR LACK OF GUTS AND down New Zealand’s against reward. Some HEART LEFT US WHIMPERING of the best moments total. But the first real AS WE STRUGGLED TO TAKE snippet of Bazball was of Bazball came from WICKETS AT CRUCIAL TIMES, exciting declarations, when, in the second test, WITH OUR TOP ORDER England would have to chasing huge totals BATTERS CONSISTENTLY chase 299 in the final and breaking records, FAILING TO SCORE BIG innings. This new England but this mentality TOTALS. team went about it with wasn’t just gung-ho extraordinary aggression, cricket: the players achieving a scoring rate of 5.98, almost understood when to take risks and double the 3.2 before Bazball. Johnny when to dig in.

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I believe it was due not to lack of preparation, a difference in playing conditions or even the away disadvantage. I think it was, in fact, terrible risk against reward judgements. Coming into the Ashes, it was crucial that England played the style of cricket that had brought them so much success over the past years: ultra-aggression and entertainment. Yet, throughout this series they failed again and again to be clinical under pressure and aggressive at the right moments. During the first test, England were cruising to victory, when suddenly a quick batting collapse brought the Aussies back into the game and Australia went 1-0 up in the series.

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Getty Images: Darrian Traynor

All this excitement around England’s tested and proven Bazball provided high hopes heading into the pinnacle of all cricket, the Ashes. Yet, five test matches later, every England supporter was left wondering how we had just lost 4-1 in a series we could’ve won. Our lack of guts and heart left us whimpering as we struggled to take wickets at crucial times, with our top-order batters consistently failing to score big totals: only two batters even made it to three figures. Since the Ashes, Bazball has come under extreme scrutiny, and people are questioning why we failed so miserably.

COMING INTO THE ASHES, IT WAS CRUCIAL THAT ENGLAND PLAYED THE STYLE OF CRICKET THAT HAD BROUGHT THEM SO MUCH SUCCESS OVER THE PAST YEARS.

Balancing risk and reward have always been key to winning in any form of life: weighing up likelihood of success versus when to take a gamble. It’s the same in cricket: players are constantly asking ‘should I play this shot?’, ‘will I get out?’ or ‘will I score runs?’ England have historically hedged their bets well, and when attacking it was all-out attack, but in this series Australia even scored at a quicker rate than us. We would cower away, when all we really needed was a forward-thinking mindset and a team of risk-takers. So, it is clear that Bazball only functions effectively when England disregard disorganised negative approaches, and instead opt for risk-taking and 100% mental commitment.¢

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Throughout this series they failed again and again to be clinical under pressure and aggressive at the right moments.

Image: AP Photo / Gary Day

England were cruising to victory, when suddenly a quick batting collapse brought the Aussies back into the game.

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TREASURE ARMADI asks why social media has lurched to the right.

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f you’ve been scrolling recently, the black-pill ideology, which says that chances are you’ve heard of tradwives, men must accept their fate when nature looks-maxxing and Andrew Tate – dictates that sexual partners are chosen trends that have one thing in common: solely on looks, which its adherents claim they’re all right-wing. Far-right views have are predetermined. always existed on the internet but in the past intolerant people have skulked in A tradwife is a stay-at-home wife who corners, knowing their bigotry did not practices traditional values in her marriage, represent the views of often posting her lifestyle the man in the street. on social media. The So, why have ultratradwife portrays a luxury conservative views moved version of domestic life; TRADWIVES AND LOOKScentre-stage? Tradwives she is young and lives in MAXXING MAY APPEAR and looks-maxxing may a large house, in which HARMLESS AT FIRST GLANCE, appear harmless at first she does pilates, cooks BUT THEY ARE CELEBRATED glance, but they are elaborate meals with ease

BY THOSE WHO POST MORE celebrated by those who and takes care of extremely SINISTER CONTENT, SUCH post more sinister content, well-behaved children. And AS ANTI-IMMIGRATION such as anti-immigration then she posts all about it PROPAGANDA. propaganda. Below are a on TikTok. These women few of these trends that boast their countercultural may be unfamiliar to those with a more lifestyles and encourage others to limited social media presence. follow suit, making it easy to forget that they actively profit from the systems of ‘Looksmaxxing’ means maximising one’s which they disapprove – feminism and physical appearance and enhancing looks modernisation have made it possible for and physical health. This trend is ascribed them to make content on, and even profit mostly to teenaged boys and young men. from, social media.

At face value, a trend like this may seem harmless or even good for young men A large slice of content made about who are stereotyped as not caring about relationships perpetuates harmful their hygiene or appearance. But the gender norms in the guise of female truth is ‘looksmaxxing’ quickly leads into empowerment. A widely held view is that ideas of white supremacy and fatphobia. in a heterosexual relationship a man must An escalated version of looksmaxxing is completely ‘provide’ financially, and that

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the ideal relationship should never have the man and woman contributing equally where money is concerned.

This benevolent sexism may be alluring because it allows women to profit from the status quo, but in the end this is not only unrealistic in a world where one salary is often not enough to support one person, let alone two, but it is to the detriment of both men and women. To men, the fear and pressure of having to be successful to be desirable is arguably the cause of them becoming more radical in their views, which ultimately leads to violence. For women, this presents the patronising idea that only a man is capable of providing a life with financial comfort. This undermines the tireless work of women in the past who have fought to make their own money.

All this being said, a few years ago social media platforms used by young people were largely progressive, with movements like MeToo being popularised on Twitter in 2017 and leading to a huge cultural shift in attitudes towards victims of sexual assault. So, what has changed?

Social media is a tool for recruitment.

Given that a large part of social media is short-form content, getting a like or even a follow from someone is simply down to grabbing and holding

their attention. Hence, problematic was white, he would be a 10’, and the or even malevolent views can appear rigid beauty standards that arise lead to on the feed of any unsuspecting rhetoric that claims people of different social media user if races should ‘never mix’. it is funny enough or worded in a sufficiently If the west is becoming A major way for more open to the euphemistic way. In content creators to opinions voiced by this way, extremists make money on social these parties, it is only media is through user can softly push their logical that the media agenda in a way that engagement with their we create will be also. makes extreme opinions posts.

Controversial seem milder. Extremists posts generate high use social media to cajole people engagement, not only incentivising into subscribing to their views. In the people to deliberately post extreme looksmaxxing example given above, or controversial views for monetary an extremist may upload content on gain but also incentivising platforms to how people can maximise their looks, boost this content so that users spend hooking those who feel insecure, but more time online. content could quickly escalate to ‘If he Also, many western countries have seen an increase in voting for parties on the right of the political spectrum. In the United Kingdom, Reform UK leads the polls on voter intention. In Germany and France, far-right parties are the most popular, and in Italy and Hungary far-right parties lead government.

Further, the most powerful country in the world is run by none other than Trump. Why voters are choosing to cast their ballots in favour of these parties is a broader discussion, but it can be said that social media is created and consumed by the same people who vote for these parties. If the west is becoming more open to the opinions voiced by these parties, it is only logical that the media we create will be also.

Since the pandemic, people – especially young people – have turned to social media for information. According to

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Extremists use social media to cajole people into subscribing to their views.

The fear and pressure of having to be successful to be desirable is arguably the cause of them becoming more radical in their views. research carried out by the National Centre for Social Research, published in June 2025, 53% of those aged under 35 ‘primarily use social media to access political news’. It is incredibly easy to share fake news online, and those who have a political or ideological agenda may want their audience to feel polarised or fearful in order to present their cause as a solution. Impressionable viewers are more likely to accept facts that are distorted or exaggerated, helping to perpetuate false and harmful ideas.

Ultimately, there are several factors contributing to the increase of right-wing views online; motivations range from monetary to political.

Yet a part of the beauty of social media is that a plethora of subject matter, created by virtually anyone, can be consumed within minutes due to short-form content. Despite this, it is essential to stay informed on facts rather than embellished opinions, and it is crucial that we protect and continue to fight for progress in society, rather than stagnation or regression. ¢ Mind’s Eye | July 2026

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AVA WANG tells the terrible story of a record-breaking ‘No Limits’ freediver who may well have been killed by her husband.

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tatistically, Freediving is one of the safest ‘extreme’ sports.

Competitions have resolute safety teams to ensure rigorous standards.

However, there is a discipline of freediving considered so dangerous that it is not sanctioned by a single global federation. Welcome to the deadly sport of No Limits Freediving.

No Limits takes the freediver down on a weighted sled to a predetermined depth and back up with an inflatable device. The women’s world record, to a depth of 160m, was set by Tanya Streeter in August 2002. This broke the overall record, including the women’s record of 130m, set by Audrey Mestre. Mestre (or her husband) was determined to set the world record again with a dive to 171m but she died when her inflatable bag failed to take her to the surface.

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But this story goes deeper than malfunctioning equipment. Everyone had questions when Mestre died, but no one had answers. Was her death a mistake, or murder?

Mestre’s dive was being sanctioned by the International Association of Freedivers (IAFD), which was created

by Ferreras in order to sanction his own dives, without having to adhere to regular rules. The safety and medical Audrey Mestre met celebrity freediver teams during a competition are central Francisco ‘Pipin’ Ferreras, to safety, but an IAFD the subject of her thesis, diver had died the in 1996. They married previous year, and and moved to Miami Ferreras couldn’t where Ferreras began to afford to hire another. train Mestre to become Streeter’s dive had ON 12 OCTOBER 2002 a professional freediver. fourteen safety divers; THE ATMOSPHERE WAS She advanced quickly, Mestre only had three.

TENSE. MESTRE WAS setting her first world WITHDRAWN AND GLOOMY, record just one year after On 12 October 2002 AN UNEXPLAINED BRUISE starting. She then set the the atmosphere ON HER CHEEK. world record of 130m was tense. Mestre a year later. Mestre was was withdrawn and achieving in three years what Ferreras gloomy, an unexplained bruise on her had worked towards over more than cheek. Something was not right, yet ten. nothing was wrong, but preparations

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had to be made. Mestre had to warm up, the safety divers had to descend to their marks and, above all, the lift bag had to be filled, a job Ferreras had taken upon himself. He was asked twice if the bag had been filled, but he said, ‘Get away from it and take care of other things. Just leave it alone. I already took care of the bottle. It’s filled.’ It had not been filled.

The countdown for the dive began. Mestre sank on her sled. At one minute and 42 seconds, she reached the bottom. It was time for her to inflate her lift bag, her only way out of there. Nothing happened. A safety diver swam over to fill it with air from his scuba tank and she started to ascend, but too slowly. If there had been a safety diver at 130m, they would’ve noticed.

The surface world was oblivious. Only 15 seconds had elapsed since the expected return time, During an interview, when asked who was but suddenly Ferreras screamed for scuba gear, responsible for filling the lift bag, Ferreras which he donned and disappeared into the water. responded, ‘Well…it was a... the Meanwhile, a safety diver noticed that whole team.’

Mestre had blacked out, 124m down.

The diver carried her up to 90 metres So many conflicting stories and but had to stop there – any further, and opinions, but official reports he would be risking his own life with THEY RACED TO THE state it was simply a tragic decompression syndrome. All he could INFIRMARY, WHERE STAFF do was wait.

WERE PAINTING THE WALLS, accident. Did Pipin murder his own wife, or was it just a freak SO IT TOOK 30 MINUTES accident?

When Ferreras finally took Mestre from TO GET MESTRE TO A the diver and returned to the surface, HOSPITAL. Tanya Streeter’s record dive she had spent 8 minutes and 38 remains unbroken to this day, seconds in the water. They frantically but Audrey Mestre’s death remains unsolved, and tried to resuscitate her, calling for the doctor. perhaps will be forever. ¢ But then, the on-board doctor turned out to be a dentist. Meanwhile, Audrey Mestre was dying.

“

“

IT WAS TIME FOR HER TO INFLATE HER LIFT BAG, HER ONLY WAY OUT OF THERE. NOTHING HAPPENED.

They rushed to shore, using a beach lounge chair as a makeshift backboard. They raced to the infirmary, where staff were painting the walls, so it took 30 minutes to get Mestre to a hospital, where she died.

Carlos Serra, Ferreras’s ex-business partner, is convinced Ferreras is at fault. He was the only person who checked the lift bag, pushing others away. And an empty lift bag was what killed his wife. Some claim that Ferreras had set the whole thing up for him to perform a heroic rescue and hadn’t intended Mestre to die. Serra derailed his life to publish a book, The Last Attempt, which meticulously goes through everything that happened that day, and comes to one definitive conclusion: there was no equipment failure.

Whatever his intentions, Pipin Ferreras was responsible for the death of Audrey Mestre.

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Paradise TOM DINGLE wonders if Milton Keynes should really be Labour’s model for curing the housing crisis.

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he urban sprawl of sunny Los Angeles (Central Business District) as possible, in order evokes rows of palm trees, suburban bliss, to protect the natural world. Webber fought swimming pools and the American Dream. this, his twin pillars for development being And the optimism of such American urban suburban intensification and the motorcar. He planning was fuelled by Prime Minister Harold was critical of high-density cities: they were Wilson’s desire for forging a Britain unattractive, unnecessary and in the latent heat of the scientific led to the displacement of revolution of 1963. One city located local communities. This, paired just 72 km from London was the with the implementation of nucleus of this urban revolution, new technologies that allowed one that has the most successful working from home, forged his CRITICS ARE CORRECT local economy in the UK, with belief that communities should TO QUESTION IF THIS a 135% increase in gross value be dispersed, decentralised AMERICAN DESIGN between 1997 and 2013 – faster and linked together by ‘webs PHILOSOPHY HAS IN growth than Cambridge, Bristol and of communication’. This belief ANY WAY BROUGHT A even London. remains just as valid in the POSITIVE QUALITY OF 2020s as in the 1960s, since LIFE. Yet this town is still criticised for its post-Covid remote working soulless environment, resting on has widened the commuter the foundation of an urban design that contrasts belt. Webber’s timeless Californian dream with the British consensus. Critics are correct to inspired the revolutionary highway system in question if this American design philosophy has Los Angeles, allowing for door-to-door private in any way brought a positive quality of life, and transportation. This philosophy removes the if sustainable urban development can even be place of the pedestrian in its design and is ensured. However, this town will become the certainly responsible for the multiple-nuclei model for this Labour government’s housing model observed in the LA region, wherein crisis strategy. Can Milton Keynes really be a several CBDs have been created, connected model for dealing with this crisis, and how did it by multi-lane highways rather than accessible even make the short list? public routes.

“

It begins with the vision of Melvin Webber, a scholar at Berkeley, California. He had a contrarian philosophy, as the consensus of urban developers was that urban decentralisation and sprawl was an evil to contain. These planners believed in high population densities and greater public transport as close to the CBD

Milton Keynes rose from Webber’s economic framework, and the populist policies of Wilson for the new-town wave in a post-industrial era. Its key design element is a 1km grid of dual carriageways, contrasting to the typical concentric Burgess model with rings of housing and services around a CBD seen in

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other British towns. Milton Keynes prefers a low housing density, extensive open spaces and retail opportunities scattered around the town instead of agglomerating. This has had significant long-term impacts: a survey in 2010 showed that 71% used cars every day, greater than the national average of 61%. This prioritising of private vehicles of course clashes with Net Zero goals.

Despite claims that the town is the Little Los Angeles of Buckinghamshire, it has a British character, with permeation of the countryside and gentle undulations of the landscape. There is certainly more green space in Milton Keynes, with a focus on allowing the pedestrian to have suitable access across the grid. This reveals elements of sustainable urban development in its planning, and it is easy to see why this could be an effective way to protect the Southern green belt.

Critics consider it a convenient way to label controversial greenfield development as a ‘blast from the past’.

The South East Regional Study of 1964 expressed concern for new housing due to the natural increase of 2.5 million in the region, with a further one million due to migration. This provoked the proposal of new towns in Kent with a similar design to Milton Keynes. As Britain moved into the Thatcher era, government policy shifted from regenerating inner cities to greater individual freedom for self-financing and purchasing property. The city was positive to anticipate this change, and this ‘middleclass individualism’ was suited to the new-build properties where this growth in class meant a greater demand for property ownership. The same can be seen during the mid-1990s, when

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KEIR STARMER VISITED MILTON KEYNES IN FEBRUARY 2025, ANNOUNCING 100 POTENTIAL SITES FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF NEW TOWNS WITH A SIMILAR URBAN DESIGN PHILOSOPHY.

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Despite claims that the town is the Little Los Angeles of Buckinghamshire, it has a British character.

60% of the population considered themselves middle class and these new-build estates were well equipped to absorb such population pressure.

This city remains a key influence on British politics today. Keir Starmer visited Milton Keynes in February 2025, announcing 100 potential sites for the next generation of new towns with a similar urban design philosophy. Critics consider it a convenient way to label controversial greenfield development as a ‘blast from the past’ and claim that if your local area is not included in the programme then your rural-urban fringe can be preserved.

I must distinguish between houses and places. It is much easier to build houses and urban extensions.

However, a place must be created organically with local communities taking the initiative for shaping culture and a town’s ‘soul’. Several of these modern new-build settlements provoke disapproval due to a lack of pubs, shops and urban life. For example, the new dormitory town, Northstowe, just outside Cambridge, did not have a signal café or shop in 2023, revealing a drought of personality.

Maybe the Milton Keynes dream can become a reality, shaping how we view what makes a ‘place’ and the community that grows there.

This new town strategy is necessary, but it must receive careful attention as ‘social glue’ can never be supplied by government policy. Milton Keynes required decades to develop its culture and even had to buy Wimbledon FC and turn it into the MK Dons to create a sense of community spirit.

The sunny Los Angeles dream will never be fully achieved in the UK, but maybe the Milton Keynes dream can become a reality, shaping how we view what makes a ‘place’ and the community that grows there. ¢ Mind’s Eye | July 2026

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Human

SURIYA RAMYEAD wonders whether AI could ever become a citizen.

I

n 2017, at a major conference in Riyadh, a woman named Sophia was granted citizenship. Since then, Sophia has become an instantly recognisable figure, appearing on The Tonight Show, at the United Nations, and travelling around the world. While she may seem to be living the dream life, it is not her achievements that gained her international attention.

Sophia sparked worldwide debate because she is not really a woman at all, but a humanoid robot created by Hanson Robotics, a Hong Kong–based engineering company. Sophia’s status divided the public: some praised the innovative nature of her existence, while others were outraged that citizenship had been allocated to what 86

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they claimed was simply a sophisticated one’s state. A ‘good citizen’ was one who object made up of wires and code. served their specific constitution well, in While Sophia’s appearance hovers in the which case many public figures – Barack uncanny space between Obama, for instance human and machine, her – would align with position has raised several Aristotelian ideals of questions about whether civic virtue through AI can ever truly belong their contribution to WHILE SOPHIA’S to a nation and, if so, politics, democracy, APPEARANCE HOVERS what this says about the and public IN THE UNCANNY SPACE essence of personhood. engagement.

BETWEEN HUMAN AND

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MACHINE, HER POSITION

Traditionally, citizenship However, from HAS RAISED SEVERAL has been defined her attendance at QUESTIONS. through both politics and ECOSOC to being personhood. Aristotle believed that awarded an honorary title as an citizenship was not determined by birth, Innovation Champion by the UN, but by active engagement in politics, one could say Sophia has had similar deliberation, and judicial service within involvement and success in politics. Yet

is fractured or diminished, a feeling and experiencing person still persists.

it seems absurd to claim that a robot, entirely constructed by programmers, could hold the same standing in society as Barack Obama simply for these reasons alone. While Sophia may be able to attend and speak at conferences, her actions are entirely scripted; she cannot reason or take responsibility. Her citizenship is simulated because she performs political engagement without being truly capable.

Yet this gap between appearing to act and actually acting highlights a deeper issue: the question of personhood. To consider whether Sophia’s citizenship should be taken seriously, we must understand what it means to be a person at all. Philosophers such as John Locke viewed personhood as inseparable from consciousness and memory. Locke argued that being a ‘person’ requires self-awareness across time – the ability to recognise oneself as the same being in different moments, to remember past experiences, and to reflect on them in relation to one’s present and future actions. This capacity underpins our ability to learn from mistakes and develop responsibility.

Whether it is tripping over shoelaces as a child or failing a maths test, humans continually reflect on their past performance to guide future decisions, forming a narrative of who they are and who they hope to become.

This idea connects to Derek Parfit’s account of psychological continuity, where identity is maintained not simply by inhabiting the same physical body, but through the ongoing web of memories, intentions and desires that link our experiences together. Even when memories fade, the emotional, moral, and psychological threads that shape our decisions remain. And even in cases of severe amnesia, when identity

This is where Sophia cannot follow. If a human loses memory, there is still a living consciousness that once had experiences. Sophia, however, never possessed subjective experience in the first place. She does not remember. She stores.

Nor does she choose.

If we define She executes code. Her personhood by ‘identity’ is authored not outward capability, internally, but externally.

Sophia begins to Sophia’s responses may resemble us. imitate emotional nuance, but imitation is not experience. Behind her smile there is no feeling. Her statements about compassion or unity are not rooted in empathy, but algorithmic patterning. Even her apparent ‘goals’ are not chosen; they are implemented and maintained by her developers. She cannot take responsibility because she cannot intend anything to begin with.

If citizenship requires a capacity for accountability, self-reflection and moral agency, then Sophia is not a citizen but a performance of citizenhood. But this problem extends beyond Sophia herself. The debate forces us to confront what we believe to be uniquely human. For

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PHILOSOPHERS SUCH AS JOHN LOCKE VIEWED PERSONHOOD AS INSEPARABLE FROM CONSCIOUSNESS AND MEMORY.

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“

SOPHIA CANNOT HOPE, FEAR, SUFFER OR IMAGINE A FUTURE. SHE DOES NOT LIVE A LIFE; SHE SIMPLY RUNS A PRE-MADE PROGRAMME.

much of history, humans distinguished themselves through labour, speech, or rationality, but AI can now produce essays, paint portraits and debate policy. If we define personhood by outward capability, Sophia begins to resemble us. But if we define it by inward experience, such as empathy and moral understanding, she remains fundamentally other.

Perhaps the question we are left with is not ‘Can AI be a citizen?’ but instead ‘What does it take to belong to a human community?’ Citizenship is not merely public participation but shared vulnerability, mutual recognition, and an ability to be affected by the consequences of one’s actions. Sophia cannot hope, fear, suffer or imagine a future. She does not live a life; she simply runs a pre-made programme.

So, while it is unlikely that AI could ever meet this criteria of citizenship, the concept tells us less about AI and more about us: our desire to see ourselves reflected in our creations, our discomfort with the boundaries of humanity, and our fear that we are less unique than we once believed. ¢

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ARISTOTLE BELIEVED THAT CITIZENSHIP WAS NOT DETERMINED BY BIRTH, BUT

BY ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT IN POLITICS, DELIBERATION, AND JUDICIAL SERVICE WITHIN ONE’S STATE.

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“

PERHAPS THE QUESTION WE ARE LEFT WITH IS NOT ‘CAN AI BE A CITIZEN?’ BUT INSTEAD ‘WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BELONG TO A HUMAN COMMUNITY?’

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ANDIE WHIBLEY assesses the impact of America First on US foreign aid.

A

fter Trump’s return to office, the us to exert influence for the maintenance global perception of the US has of freedom.’ Having the Marshall Pact of undergone a major change. With 1947 in mind, the United States helped clear national and sovereign motives in provide economic assistance to restore mind, he has tackled foreign policy with the infrastructure of postwar Europe. It vigour, ordering a 90-day pause on all US began, therefore, as a tool of diplomacy, foreign development assistance. In mid- and cold world strategy, opening trade February it was announced that 83% of routes and economies globally, serving as a USAID projects and grants precondition for economic would be terminated and order and a thriving the remaining ones would economy in America. be merged into the State Department.

Kennedy cited ‘our moral USAID, A 64-YEAR-OLD obligations as a wise leader FEDERAL AGENCY, WAS USAID, a 64-year-old federal and good neighbour DISMANTLED, JUMPSTARTING agency, was dismantled, in the interdependent TRUMP’S ‘AMERICA FIRST’ jumpstarting Trump’s community of free nations; AGENDA. ‘America First’ agenda. our economic obligations DOGE (Department of as the wealthiest people Governmental Efficiency, in a world of largely poor founded by Elon Musk) and the Trump people, as a nation no longer dependent Administration were able to pursue upon the loans from abroad that once administrative action, terminating helped us develop our own economy; contracts and freezing spending under the and our political obligations as the single guise of reorganisation. While the ‘America largest counter to the adversaries of First’ restructuring of US foreign aid exposes freedom.’ In the past decade, this mantra genuine inefficiencies in traditional aid of humanitarian obligation and great models, its abrupt deconstruction of long- American saviourism has been degraded standing institutions risks undermining by a worldwide lack of trust in Trump. both global stability and American strategic influence.

The America First Global Health Strategy statement declared: ‘Our global health Kennedy introduced USAID during the programs have become wasteful and Cold War with the goal of its being a created a culture of dependency among ‘powerful source of strength that permits recipient countries.’ To what extent is this

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an accurate representation? Critically, does this renovated strategy prove in practice to achieve American goals of prosperity and safety? Traditional foreign aid models have at times produced dependency, weakened local institutions, and encouraged shortterm project cycles over long-term structural reform.

The global health system of supplying drugs from large pharmaceutical companies rather than investing in building self-sufficient medical facilities or training local staff prioritizes shortterm relief that requires consistently massive spending compared with long-term solutions. A revealing political example of inefficiency is the billion-dollar aid provided to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) under Mobutu Sese Seko in the 1960s, largely because he was anti-communist, which fostered a dependence within the party’s fragile governance. As geopolitical priorities faded, support declined and the state collapsed into crisis.

These drawbacks do not show the full picture, and this claim of weakness retracts from the overall record.

According to The Lancet Global Health’s analysis of the last two decades, overall

humanitarian and development Western Hemisphere and East Asia, assistance was associated with a 15% and ties foreign assistance to security, reduction in all-age trade, and loyalty. That mortality and a 32% includes investment in reduction in under-5 the Philippines’ Luzon In mid-February it mortality over the Economic Corridor, an was announced that past two decades. The 83% of USAID projects infrastructure initiative and grants would be study also projected spearheaded under the terminated that the near-complete Biden administration, dismantling of former and launching new USAID programmes programs to accelerate could result in 14 million deaths by the use of American-made artificial 2030, including 4·5 million children. intelligence, build port infrastructure, and transfer decommissioned The new government aims to US Coast Guard vessels to the reimagine their strategy by applying region to boost maritime security. a ‘trade, not aid’ take on foreign aid. Globally, policymakers and recipient This channels 40% of US aid to the governments have long debated the trade-first foreign aid approach, with many arguing that trade can foster sustainable, accelerated growth in a way that’s less dependencyinducing than traditional aid, but this is always unlikely to reach the most fragile populations, who depend on immediate humanitarian assistance, which raises urgent ethical questions.

The more immediate impacts of the spending cuts are job lay-offs, rotting food in shipments, and vaccines and medicines sitting in ports. Large numbers of people worldwide are stuck in medical trials not receiving their next dose. Broken overnight is the trust built over years, undoing decades of health gains. Upsurges in HIV/AIDS, malaria and hunger across the developing world are happening and predicted to increase. Importantly, other traditional donors (France, Germany and Britain, among them) are following suit and

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Upsurges in HIV/ AIDS, malaria and hunger across the developing world are happening and predicted to increase.

have also carried out sweeping cuts, prioritizing domestic spending amid economic uncertainty and doubt about whether the donor-led aid model was achieving its goals.

The question is not about whether to stop all foreign development but rather how to change its methods to be more effective and efficient.

Many poor countries would profit more greatly from investment and trade over reliance on handouts, although it must be acknowledged that trade cannot substitute the immediate lifesaving functions of humanitarian assistance, nor can markets alone address structural inequality.

In an increasingly interconnected world, the pursuit of national prosperity cannot be separated from global stability, as well as posing ethical and social responsibility concerns. The challenge is not whether foreign aid should exist but how it can be altered without abandoning the very systems that have, however imperfectly, sustained millions of lives up to now. ¢

Many poor countries would profit more greatly from investment and trade over reliance on handouts.

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The

Final

Shah

GEORGIE CARTER explains what really happened in Iran before The 1979 Revolution and wonders if history has not been repeating itself.

T

he Iranian Revolution of 1979 is one undergone rapid economic expansion, of the most dramatic and seismic leading to a wealthy and powerful nation. episodes of the 20th Century. A CIA report at the beginning of 1979 It transformed Iran from a decadent claimed that the Shah’s regime would monarchy to a deeply theocratic state, and remain for at least 50 years. But six months above all from a devoted ally of the West later, it was all gone. to one of its fiercest opponents. Today, the USA and Iran find themselves locked The Shah’s reforms were not all positive. First, in an apparently neverhe had underestimated ending conflict, one that the power of religion. The has a far-reaching impact banning of the veil and the on every single one of us.

Shah’s quest to limit the 1979 is often cited as the power of traditional Shia TODAY, THE USA AND IRAN root of this conflict, yet few clerics had led to riots in FIND THEMSELVES LOCKED people know what really 1963 and the emergence IN AN APPARENTLY NEVERhappened. of Shia authorities as fierce ENDING CONFLICT, ONE opponents of the regime.

THAT HAS A FAR-REACHING Like most revolution In addition, despite the IMPACT. Iran’s began many years Shah’s Westernising earlier. In 1953, the West reforms, students and orchestrated a coup to overthrow Iran’s young people were angry at the lack of elected prime minister, Mohammed democracy. After all, the Shah ruled as a Mossadegh, and protect Iran’s vast oil dictator and crushed opposition with an reserves from nationalisation. Mossadegh iron fist. His secret police force, SAVAK, was overthrown and Shah Mohammed tortured political prisoners and brutally Reza Pahlavi was placed in total control of suppressed freedom of speech. Finally, the same sprawling empire that battled the while Tehran was engulfed by inflation Greeks at Thermopylae. and poverty, the Shah entertained Western leaders at a $200 million banquet in The Shah wanted to restore Iran to its Persepolis and had his meals flown in from former glory, after it had become a Paris. In addition, oil revenues flooded into battleground for colonial empires in the the pockets of those at the top, not Iran’s 1900s. Iran was underdeveloped and poor, people. By 1978, Iran was a cauldron of and the Shah wanted rapid Westernisation. resentment towards the ‘American Shah’.

His first step in modernising came in 1963 with the White Revolution. This brought in The revolution began in January 1978 after the industrialisation, modernisation and an article in the state newspaper entitled Westernisation of Iran. By 1977, Iran had ‘Iran and Red and Black Colonization’ the fifth largest army in the world and had attacked a senior Shia cleric and exiled

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opponent of the Shah, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei. The piece sparked outrage. In the holy city of Qom, riots erupted and the police killed four people. This led to a deadly cycle since, according to the Shia tradition of Arbaeen, people would gather 40 days after the latest killing.

Mourning turned to rioting, rioting turned to killing and killing led to mourning. All across Iran, government buildings and Western culture were attacked. The Shah refused to believe the people hated him, meaning that the regime’s response was characterised by paralysis and indecision. In the Shah’s Friday. These disasters radicalised the eyes, he was the beloved leader who people against the Shah. By October, was guiding Iran towards a better strikes had crippled the oil industry and, on Ashura, around one future. In the eyes of the million people marched people, he was a tyrant.

Strikes had crippled through the streets of the oil industry and, Tehran. All this time, the The summer of on Ashura, around one million people Shah’s closest friend, 1978 produced two marched through the the US, was becoming catastrophic events. streets of Tehran. increasingly out of First, followers of touch with the reality of Ayatollah Khomeini set fire to a packed cinema, killing 377 events. It is important to understand innocent people. However, this act was that the US saw the Shah as invincible. blamed on the government, leading They were completely unaware of the to fresh demonstrations. Second, feelings of the Iranian people. This around 200 people were killed after meant their response was slow and the army opened fire on protesters in ineffective, ultimately dooming the Jaleh Square – an event known as Black Shah.

Ayatollah Khomeini was not out of touch. He was possibly the only person in the entire revolution who knew what he was doing. He moved from Iraq, where he was living in exile, to Paris. Here, he gave interview after interview to the world press, spreading anti-Shah and anti-Western messages and promoting an Islamic Republic.

Khomeini’s blend of religion and nationalism stirred young people, who saw the Shah as a corrupt servant of the West. By 1979, Khomeini was the unofficial leader of the revolution.

The Shah was in a hopeless state.

About 5% of the population had taken to the streets to protest against him (barely 1% of the population had taken part in the French and Russian Revolutions). Radical young men and women chanted for an Islamic Republic and ‘Death to the Shah’. Finally, he was dying from leukaemia and was physically unable to rule Iran anymore.

Therefore, in January 1979, the Shah left his palace in Tehran and fled. Given that staff had refused to stock the plane, he ate his first meal in exile off a paper plate. He died a broken man.

The Shah’s final act as King had been to appoint Shapour Bakhtiar, a liberal, as Prime Minister. Many people still thought Iran could become a democracy, guided by Islamic principles. Bakhtiar even offered Khomeini an advisory role within the government, but Khomeini wanted to be the government.

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Around 200 people were killed after the army opened fire on protesters in Jaleh Square – an event known as Black Friday.

Khomeini returned to Iran on 1st February and was greeted by ecstatic crowds. He sacked Bakhtiar and appointed his own Prime Minister.

After a brief power struggle between the liberals and the clerics, the army abandoned the regime and Khomeini supporters seized power. The last cable from the US embassy read ‘Army surrenders; Khomeini wins. Destroying all classified’.

All hope for democracy quickly evaporated.

Opponents of Khomeini were eliminated. A new constitution gave all power to Shia clerics and created the Islamic Republic we know today.

Hopes of friendship with the US were also dashed after student militants overran the US embassy, leading to a 444-day hostage crisis that doomed Jimmy Carter’s administration.

If the Iranian Revolution can teach us one thing it is that awareness is key. Many of the factions hurt by the revolution were out of touch with the feelings of the Iranian people. The US was deluded. The Shah was deluded. The liberals were deluded. The Iranian Revolution did not come about as a result of a single event or plan.

It came about as the result of miscalculations created by this delusion. This is what makes it such an important moment in history, as it showed how ignorance and delusion can easily lead to seismic, and often disastrous, outcomes.

This lack of understanding shown by outsiders such as the US, when dealing with the Iranian people, can be seen in what is happening right now. ¢

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looks at G N O W nce is ISA AC e g i l l e t n i cial how artifi cybersecurity. reshaping

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NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING MODELS CAN NOW TRAWL LINKEDIN PROFILES, COMPANY WEBSITES AND PUBLIC DATABASES TO BUILD DETAILED PROFILES ON SPECIFIC PEOPLE.

C

ybersecurity is a game of cat and mouse: penetration attackers try to exploit vulnerabilities before the server admins can fix them. But AI has flipped the script, and the game of cat and mouse has suddenly turned into a dog fight with Mach 10 jets.

Both attackers and defenders now have tools that would’ve seemed like science fiction a decade ago.

Things have evolved fast. What we’re seeing now isn’t just an improvement in how things work, but a total transformation in how digital warfare happens.

jumped to over 50% compared to less than 20% for oldschool phishing.

“

Adversarial machine learning is where things get properly science-fiction. Attackers are developing techniques to poison training data, manipulate AI outputs Traditional phishing was simple: send through carefully crafted inputs, and evade out thousands of dodgy emails and hope AI-based detection by exploiting how these someone clicks. I recall when spotting systems work computationally. Chat-GPT, a phishing email was as easy as looking ATTACKERS ARE Claude and GROK all have guard rails called at typos or common words used three DEVELOPING TECHNIQUES content filters to prevent users from asking times in one sentence. Those days are TO POISON TRAINING illegal stuff. Now there are several unfiltered gone because AI has turned this into DATA, MANIPULATE AI chatbots in the dark web that could allow precision targeting that’s terrifying.

OUTPUTS THROUGH you to ask all sorts of malicious questions.

Natural language processing models can CAREFULLY CRAFTED Hackers have built their own AI systems now trawl LinkedIn profiles, company INPUTS, AND EVADE AIand are using them to create malware and websites and public databases to build BASED DETECTION. phishing tools. These are being shared on detailed profiles on specific people. the dark web and use ChatGPT-like models that have been turned toward harmful ends. The interfaces These systems do something called stylometric analysis, are so user-friendly that you can pull up huge amounts studying how someone writes – what words they use of personal data (usernames, names and addresses) with and how they structure sentences – to create phishing only basic input. While LLMs aren’t about to take over the emails that look legitimate. Modern AI can reference world, it’s realistic to worry that, in time, social-engineering your projects, use your company’s jargon, and even attacks could be automated. keep up a conversation that adapts to your responses in real time. The numbers are stark: success rates have Deepfakes have taken things to another level entirely.

Generative adversarial networks, basically two AI systems fighting each other to create better fakes, can now make convincing video and audio from almost nothing.

Technology is now so good that synthetic media passes most authentication checks, exploiting how humans naturally trust what they see and hear. In 2024, a major engineering firm called Arup, which helped design the Sydney Opera House a half-century ago, lost twentyfive million dollars when their employees joined a video

The interfaces are so user-friendly that you can pull up huge amounts of personal data (usernames, names and addresses) with only basic input.

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conference with their CFO and finance team. Everything seemed normal, so when they were asked to transfer sensitive information, they did. But everyone else on that call was an AIgenerated deepfake. Every single person.

Now, if this all sounds scary and depressing, you’d be grateful to know that the defenders haven’t just been sitting around watching this happen.

SecOPS centres have rolled out AIpowered systems that analyze millions of events per second – volumes of data that would completely overwhelm human analysts. These platforms use unsupervised learning algorithms to figure out what ‘normal’ looks like for networks, users and applications across multiple dimensions. When something weird happens, the systems calculate risk scores using Bayesian inference and probability maths to flag actual threats instead of the false alarms that are used to bury security teams.

Behavioural analysis has become incredibly sophisticated. User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) platforms track hundreds of parameters — login times, locations, what files you access, even how you type. These systems can spot within minutes when an account’s been compromised by detecting statistically weird deviations

from your normal patterns. Some signature-based detection, modern cutting-edge systems use recurrent systems use heuristic analysis to spot neural networks to predict what you’ll brand-new exploits. Convolutional likely do next, flagging neural networks analyze actions that don’t match executable code at the Two AI systems expectations before binary level, identifying fighting each other anything malicious malicious intent from to create better happens.

Essentially, instruction patterns fakes can now make your computer now and API calls that reveal convincing video and watches how you type, bad intentions.

These audio from almost nothing. how you move your systems catch a little mouse, and how you over 90% of previously hold your phone. We’re probably unseen malware variants, operating heading toward a future where your fast enough to block them at network computer knows you’re compromised boundaries before they can do before you do, which is both reassuring anything. and deeply creepy.

Automated threat hunting works Threat detection has been completely alongside these defences, constantly rethought too. Instead of relying on searching through telemetry data for signs of compromise. These systems pull information from endpoint detection, network traffic analysis, and cloud security systems, connecting the dots that might otherwise stay completely hidden. The average time from initial breach to detection has dropped from two hundred days to under forty-eight hours for organizations using advanced AI security platforms. Attackers who used to spend months casually exploring compromised networks must be feeling pretty rushed these days.

Despite all these defensive improvements, there’s a fundamental problem that still favours attackers.

They need to succeed only once, while defenders need perfect coverage everywhere, all the time. Not a single vulnerability can breached. AI has democratized advanced hacking

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We’re probably heading toward a future where your computer knows you’re compromised before you do, which is both reassuring and deeply creepy.

The core challenge is maintaining security when attack surfaces expand faster than defensive capabilities can scale. capabilities, letting less skilled attackers use techniques that used to require serious expertise.

Automated exploitation frameworks can find and weaponize vulnerabilities faster than companies can patch them, creating windows of exposure that are basically inevitable in complex systems. It’s easier to think of this as the ‘whacka-mole’ problem, except the moles have machine learning algorithms and the mallet is always two swings behind.

The arms race just keeps accelerating. The core challenge is maintaining security when attack surfaces expand faster than defensive capabilities can scale — it’s a race where staying ahead requires constant innovation. I think the only certainty in modern cybersecurity is uncertainty itself, which is either philosophically profound or deeply depressing. ¢

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Watch it!

Audrey Tautou in Amélie. Moviestore Collection Ltd/Alamy

AL PRESTON explores his favourite weird films in ascending order of weirdness.

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Audrey Tautou in Amélie. AF archive/Alamy

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RANDOMNESS IS A CENTRAL THEME IN AMÉLIE; SHE EMBRACES THIS LACK OF CONTROL AND FINDS IN IT MEANING.

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rt and seduction aren’t that far apart.

Falling in love with a work of art, whether that’s a song, a novel or a film, is a lot like falling in love with a person. And, just like a person, a work of art reveals itself over time.

At first we fall for surface things, then deeper, weirder and more unique characteristics. There’s Amélie; she embraces this lack of control and a quote that’s often attributed to Dr Seuss but finds in it meaning. Amélie is almost entirely is, disappointingly, actually from a priest and shot in three colours: red, green painter called Roger Fulgham: and blue. The red and green ‘We are all a little weird and life’s colours dominate the screen for a little weird, and when we find most of the film, but blue is used someone whose weirdness is sparingly, representing Amélie’s compatible with ours, we join MOST FILMS AIM TO BE own renewal and reflection. up with them and fall in mutual UNIVERSAL AND RELEVANT Amélie is a perfect example of the weirdness and call it love.’ Finding TO ANYONE; WEIRD FILMS beauty of weird films. Most films weirdness that reflects your own DO THE OPPOSITE. aim to be universal and relevant weirdness is one of the things we to anyone; weird films do the look for in art. Here are five films opposite.

They are so specific and strange that to watch if you are unsure where to start in the when you do relate or feel connection, it is far sometimes-overwhelming world of weird and stronger. surrealist films.

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The Lobster

Amélie This French rom-com, directed by JeanPierre Jeunet, is the perfect place to start if you want to get into weird films. It follows an eccentric teenage girl working in a café. After a traumatic childhood, she finds her meaning and happiness through simple things: dipping her hand into a bag of grains, cracking the top of a crème brûlée and skipping stones on the Canal Saint-Martin. Amélie goes on a charming journey tracking down a man and eventually finding love. Randomness is a central theme in

The Lobster Whilst Amélie is a weird film, it is still welcoming and warm. The Lobster, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, on the other hand, involves surreal sensibilities and makes a cold and unsettling watch. The Lobster is a very funny film, yet this humour doesn’t come with any effort. The premise of The Lobster is ridiculous on paper: a society where if you don’t find love you are turned into an animal, yet it is performed and directed almost completely straight and deadpan. The film follows the main character, whose brother has been turned into a dog after failing to find love, who stays in a hotel for people being made to find love, and his romantic struggles.

The film’s cinematography is visually cold; the sterile hotel setting and long uncomfortable shots complement its story and dialogue. It critiques modern love – how dating apps gamify love – and the commodification of personality.

This film is a great second watch; it will get you comfortable with being uncomfortable.

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The Seventh Seal The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman may be quite a step up from The Lobster in its strangeness. Whilst both films deal with big existential themes, Bergman presents it through a more philosophical and unconventional lens.

Its pacing is slow and meditative; there is very little resolution, and it will leave you with more questions than answers. The Seventh Seal follows a disillusioned knight and his squire when they return from a crusade to find their home ravaged by plague. The most famous scene from this movie is of the knight playing a game of chess with Death on a beach; he is allowed to live as long as the game continues.

Its existential ideals are presented not only through its script but predominantly through its cinematography. Doubt, faith and mortality are explored through its stark black-andwhite shots. Watching this film feels as if you are watching a painting come to life. It is a masterclass in existential cinematography.

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THE SEVENTH SEAL FOLLOWS A DISILLUSIONED KNIGHT AND HIS SQUIRE WHEN THEY RETURN FROM A CRUSADE TO FIND THEIR HOME RAVAGED

BY PLAGUE.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Moviestore Collection Ltd/Alamy

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly This is the most uncomfortable watch on the list. We watch this film through the one working eye of a paralysed man with LockedIn Syndrome. The Seventh Seal and this film are more similar in their themes than you may think. Although this film’s modern setting is different from Bergman’s medieval allegory,

The Seventh Seal

The most famous scene from this movie is of the knight playing a game of chess with Death on a beach.

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THIS FILM IS TERRIFYING AND CLAUSTROPHOBIC YET BEAUTIFUL WHEN WE GO BACK THROUGH THE CHARACTER’S MEMORIES.

Etienne George / Miramax

The character, after living with his condition for a while, finds meaning by writing a novel using only his one eye to communicate.

The Holy Mountain Photo 12/Alamy

they share the same message of coming to terms with death and change. This film is incredibly unique because we see through the central character’s eye; the camera is his consciousness, transporting us into his memories and imagination. Like all the films on this list, existentialism and the search for meaning is a major theme. The character, after living with his condition for a while, finds meaning by writing a novel using only his one eye to communicate. This film is terrifying and claustrophobic yet beautiful when we go back through the character’s memories, with a freedom that directly contrasts with his physical state.

The Holy Mountain The Holy Mountain is the strangest film I have ever seen. Alejandro Jodorowsky, the director, is rumoured to have given the actors LSD before shooting, and by watching this film you too will feel as if you have taken a similar substance. The film follows a man, known only as The Thief, and seven other people, who are all personifications of the seven planets, as well as an alchemist and his assistant, who complete a series of rituals for the promise of immortality. This film really is the deepest level of the iceberg as weird films go. Don’t be disheartened if, once you’ve finished this film, you are unsure what you’ve just seen. I cannot even begin to understand everything this film is trying to say, but it is incredibly powerful. ¢ The Holy Mountain

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DON’T BE DISHEARTENED IF, ONCE YOU’VE FINISHED THIS FILM, YOU ARE UNSURE WHAT YOU’VE JUST SEEN.

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Offensive HANNAH MULHEIRN assesses the danger to politics of charisma.

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CHARISMATIC LEADERS OFTEN RISE IN MOMENTS OF CRISIS, DESPERATION AND SOCIAL UPHEAVAL

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ur society prides itself on democratic structures designed to serve our needs in the fairest way possible. And they do, in principle. But flaws deep in the system make us question if this is the case in practice. Do they serve us or do we serve them? We are easily manipulated, and when we are, we can find ourselves believing something that we would otherwise dismiss or even be opposed to. How insidiously oblivious we are to this is the dark side of our democratic system.

And although politicians are supposed to work within the system of democracy, there are those who have hacked it, using their charisma to manipulate us to their advantage. They hold the power to exploit the masses, masking it under the name of democracy, and it is not until it is too late that we recognise this. History suggests that we have too often allowed ourselves to be seduced by charisma, in the worst cases resulting in catastrophe, and we must not let history repeat itself.

Although this is a hyperbolic representation of charisma, there is no doubt that charisma plays a hugely influential role in modern politics. Whether this is a good thing or not is what I will begin to explore in this article.

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These are concepts outlined by Max Weber (1864–1920) who was the first to use charisma as a sociological term in his Economy and Society. His definition of ‘charisma’ suggests that it is an exceptional personal quality that allows one to be treated as endowed with supernatural or superhuman powers. This definition captures the extent of charismatic power and compares it to divine power. Such an impalpable concept has been debated for years, and its meaning has developed in relation to societal change, but all definitions point towards the same underlying concept that it is the ability to inspire and connect with people, creating an inescapable attraction to one’s leadership. With this, leaders are created through emotional connection and legitimacy through respect, even without a title or fame.

FOR SOMEONE TO STAND OUT FROM THE REST AS A ‘LEADER’, THEY MUST HAVE SOME SORT OF AUTHORITY TO LEGITIMISE THEIR LEADERSHIP AND GAIN SUPPORTERS.

For someone to stand out from the rest as a ‘leader’, they must have some sort of authority to legitimise their leadership and gain supporters or at least general acceptance of their power. Otherwise, they are nothing but a person with a dream. Charismatic authority is one of the big three sources of power: traditional authority, rooted in custom and long-standing belief; legalrational authority, based on laws, rules and institutions; and charismatic authority. The third is particularly interesting because it lies in tension with traditional and legal-rational authority in the sense that it is temporary and unstable, though hugely powerful. This is because charismatic leaders often rise in moments of crisis, desperation and social upheaval (usually temporary statuses) and only remain legitimate as long as the leader ‘delivers’. It is also fully dependent on the person, making their power intrinsically fragile compared to the other forms of authority, which have been institutionalised and embedded in societal structures.

This idea is not unfamiliar to us. We encounter charisma on a regular basis from television presenters to school leaders to everyday social interactions, but what makes it so powerful at the highest levels?

On its own charisma has its limits. Some may say it is only a personality trait, but when it is fully understood, especially in relation to understanding human social and psychological tendencies, its power is immense. There are three key elements: emotion, simplicity, definition.

When strong enough, emotion often overrides thought and reason. Understanding this, charismatic leaders turn otherwise complex debates, situations or politics into personal narratives with deep emotional resonance.

Furthermore, the human brain is drawn to simplicity, and by making ideas clear and easy to understand a leader is capable of selling themselves, their policies or their vision easily to audiences. Finally, leaders who bring definition, with clear and decisive views in politics (which will always be complex and ambiguous), is what wins over crowds.

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Their confidence gives them the power to hide manipulation.

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People are uninterested in the statistics and figures and are bored by ambiguity or balance when faced with a voice that confidently and inspirationally calls for change. In this way, charisma can be a formidable tool to access power over people. Its influence is magnified by herd mentality, because once a critical mass expresses admiration, others are inclined to follow, reinforcing and accelerating the leader’s authority.

Today, this is effectively employed thorough tactical use of social media, exploiting its wide reach to present oneself in a certain way and gaining validation of this through likes and direct interactions.

Charisma is essentially performative.

Those who employ the skill effectively have perfected their presentation to catch people’s eye. This is not often a drastic Charisma is essentially change but an extension We have established performative. Those of their personality with that those who project who employ the a particular focus on charismatic qualities skill effectively have perfected their amplifying friendliness, can easily become presentation to catch confidence, or even leaders. But charisma is people’s eye. creating a sense of morally neutral.

How superpower or even comfortable should we divinity, be this through clothing, be that the most charismatic should actions or the way one speaks. By wield the most power, regardless of building an image of themselves that is intention, and have disproportionate unmistakable and magnetic, charisma influence over others? is scaled up to create unforgettable leaders.

Another danger is that a leader’s charisma can lead to people taking their word as fact. Their confidence gives them the power to hide manipulation through convincing (but not necessarily accurate) narratives. Worse still, listeners don’t have the time or feel the need to fact-check or make an evaluative judgement for themselves when an argument is made so clearly by a charismatic orator. Leaders can use this to manipulate facts or present ideas in ways that benefit themselves

or a particular view. Thus, there comes a fine line between persuasiveness and manipulation, which can blur morality and rationality. Perhaps, then, such people become comparable to social media algorithms that show you things which it has learned will catch your interest and provide carefully chosen content that will suck you in. Similarly, charismatic leaders can create the illusion that they are talking directly to you, responding directly to your needs That said, charisma is an essential part or, if not, continually tweaking their of democratic politics. It can have message until they do. And we get significant benefits. A charismatic leader can increase a sucked in. This dynamic sense of hope, a shared undermines effective How comfortable sense of purpose scrutiny of a leader’s should we be that revitalising politics, decisions. the most charismatic and increase political should wield the most participation.

And Charisma, at times, can power, regardless of when used to inspire be worn like a mask, intention? and mobilise people especially in politics, for the right reasons, blurring the lines between authenticity and performance. charisma can trigger collective action This raises doubts about whether toward meaningful and lasting change. leaders with this type of authority really Charisma alone is not inherently have any legitimacy. dangerous. But it can be exceptionally powerful. Our best defence is educating ourselves and our society so that we are capable of coming to our own judgements and questioning others’ arguments. We, as citizens, should be alert to this and to the importance of traditional and legal-rational authority as constraints or counterbalances to charismatic authority in our democratic system. It is only then that we can ensure that the democratic system truly serves us and our needs as citizens. ¢

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A CHARISMATIC LEADER CAN INCREASE A SENSE OF HOPE, A SHARED SENSE OF PURPOSE REVITALISING POLITICS, AND INCREASE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION.

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Mark

the

Music

DORA WANG muses on the sweet power of music.

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usic has been around since the the piano was not invented until the beginning of human culture. For early 1700s, making the harpsichord as long as we have created things, one of the main instruments of the time. music has shaped us, from the lullabies Baroque bows for string instruments sung to us as infants to the hymns we, had a different shape, and the strings in turn, sing to something bigger than themselves, instead of being steel, ourselves. For the ancient were made from ‘catgut’ Greeks, music was one (sheep intestines). There of the three pillars of were also instruments primary education in common use which alongside literacy and are now rare, such as the sport: from this came the MUSIC HAS SHAPED US, hurdy-gurdy. foundations of Western FROM THE LULLABIES SUNG TO US AS INFANTS TO THE classical music.

Of course, one cannot HYMNS WE, IN TURN, SING mention the Baroque Pre-1600 music was TO SOMETHING BIGGER era without mentioning mostly religious. THAN OURSELVES. Bach. This man married Throughout the 15th his second cousin and and 16th Centuries, monophonic had a total of twenty children with his Gregorian chant (one melody with no two wives. Out of over 1000 known accompaniment) developed into more works of Bach, one of the more famous complex forms, including multiple is a set of twelve pieces for keyboard, melodies and harmony, and started to one in each major and minor key. be written down. In the Baroque era, People have long tried to define what a music was still deeply tied to the Church. scale should be. Mostly, they considered Some famous compositions include ratios between frequencies of notes.

Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’, which ‘Pythagorean tuning’ was based around has been performed at every British fifths, but some combinations of notes coronation since it was composed, and sounded off. Tuning instruments into his ‘Messiah’, in particular the Hallelujah ‘well temperament’ mostly fixed it, but a chorus. Of course, there was music for side-effect was that now every key had entertainment as well – Vivaldi was a slightly different distances between its Baroque composer most famous for his notes, which led to a different ‘feel’. This first four violin concertos, better known is why Bach’s ‘Well tempered Klavier’ is as the ‘Four Seasons’. considered so impressive. Eventually ‘equal temperament’ emerged, where You might think music was different an octave was divided into twelve back then, with so little of the identical-sounding semitones based on technology we now have, and to ratios between consecutive notes, the some extent it was. For one thing, the system still used today. instruments used were not the same:

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Contrary to previous composition, where each piece explored one theme in detail, which is perhaps why some find it ‘boring’, music in the Classical period began to be about contrast. Apparently, this didn’t make concerts less sleepinducing: the story goes that one composer was so fed up by audiences nodding off he wrote a symphony later nicknamed the ‘Surprise Symphony’.

The reason for this? The second movement starts with a rhythmic, repetitive, soft, structured tune, until suddenly… BAM! The orchestra bashes out a loud chord guaranteed to wake up snoozing spectators. Haydn was the composer in question, and some im Arsch’. I’m sure you can guess how of his other 105 symphonies include that translates. From serenades to one where the orchestra members concertos, Mozart considered himself so far ahead of his all walk out, the ‘Farewell peers that he even Symphony’, and another Regarded as one wrote a parody piece, ‘Fart’ symphony including of the greatest ‘A Musical Joke’, to bassoon sound effects.

Haydn’s penchant for jokes composers of all time, make fun of them.

Beethoven began his was not unique among work as a performer Regarded as one of the Classical composers. and composer in greatest composers Mozart, one of his Vienna. of all time, Beethoven contemporaries, famously began his work as a finished writing an opera the night before it was supposed performer and composer in Vienna. At to première and said opera – ‘Don around 30, he began to suffer hearing Giovanni’ – is now considered among loss. This in turn made him reclusive the best works of Classical music. One and even suicidal. After all, how could of his canons has the title ‘Leck Mich he continue his career without hearing

himself? Despite this, he continued to push the boundaries of the Classical style and in later life composed his 9th Symphony containing his famous ‘Ode to Joy’. Beethoven’s music marked a transition into the Romantic era, known for its lush and emotional harmonies with greater focus on storytelling.

It was during this time that the piano finally took over as the main keyboard instrument. My current favourite piece is from this period: Mendelssohn’s ‘Violin Concerto in E Minor’, specifically the third movement. I love its playful energy and swaying melodies.

Do you ever look at the name of a piece (like the one above) and wonder ‘what does that even mean?’ Well, here are some types of music you might see.

A concerto is for a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra. It has three sections, or ‘movements’, that normally go fast-slow-fast. A symphony is for a large orchestra (up to 100 musicians) and has four movements.

On the other hand, chamber music is for an orchestra of fewer than fifty musicians with no conductor. There are inevitably exceptions, like Mahler’s ‘3rd Symphony’ with six movements, because composers like to play around with the rules.

Then, of course, there are string quartets, canons, dances, fugues, and many more, as well as all kinds of choral music, requiems and masses for the church, ballets and operas for the people. Best known for the latter two genres, the Russian composer

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Tchaikovsky is widely thought to have been homosexual and involved illicitly with one of his students. During a rather unhappy life, which some believe ended in suicide, he produced some very beautiful and memorable music including the famous ballets, ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘The Nutcracker.

In the 20th Century, the evolution of music continues. Composers like Schoenberg and Stravinsky are known for, although not defined by, their use of atonality: instead of music being in a particular key, it was based around the chromatic scale, that is all the keys on a piano, black and white.

Impressionism, Neoclassicism, and Expressionism arose when composers started to experiment more, and music drew further away from the strict rules by which it had once been defined.

One 20th Century composer of note was Shostakovich. Living under Stalin’s reign, he led a dual life, repeatedly denounced by the government then favoured again, depending on the style of his work. He eventually joined the Communist Party (possibly under blackmail).

Comparing Shostakovich’s famous ‘Jazz Suite’ to his unsettling ‘String Quartet No. 8’, you can hear the dichotomy of his personal beliefs warring with outside pressure to conform. Indeed, during the later Romantic era patriotism had started to become prominent in music, with composers

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ACCORDING TO SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE’S SHERLOCK HOLMES, MUSIC EVOKES THE ‘VAGUE MEMORIES IN OUR SOULS OF THOSE MISTY CENTURIES WHEN THE WORLD WAS IN ITS CHILDHOOD.’

like Dvorak and Vaughan Williams incorporating elements of folk songs into their pieces and Sibelius producing ‘Finlandia’. The two world wars inspired their own styles, like War Requiems. During the latter half of the century, jazz and electronic music began to take the spotlight, eventually leading to the many different genres we enjoy now.

While Classical music is sometimes thought of as a thing of the past, its influences are deeply felt. It is often used in adverts and films to evoke a sense of elegance. It can be heard in film scores from writers like John Williams, his famous Star Wars music heavily inspired by Holst’s ‘The Planets’, and the iconic two-note theme of Jaws taken from Dvorak’s ‘9th Symphony’. Orchestras around the world still perform the great works with pride – music that, according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, evokes the ‘vague memories in our souls of those misty centuries when the world was in its childhood.’ ¢

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FOR THE ANCIENT GREEKS, MUSIC WAS ONE OF THE THREE PILLARS OF PRIMARY EDUCATION.

IT CAN BE HEARD IN FILM SCORES FROM WRITERS LIKE JOHN WILLIAMS, HIS FAMOUS STAR WARS MUSIC HEAVILY INSPIRED BY HOLST’S ‘THE PLANETS’.

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Drama They say the show must go on, but SEBASTIAN HAMMOND celebrates the backstage tech team without whom the show would not go on at all.

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hen the lights go up and the first Before the audience even walks in, scene is underway, everything hours if not days of work behind the looks effortless, but most people scenes have already taken place. in the audience never stop to think Microphones have been cleaned and tested and cables have about what’s happening been laid. Lights have behind (or even in front been programmed for of ) the stage. They see every moment on stage performers confidently to be visible. It’s not delivering lines, moves ORGANISED CHAOS REIGNS just a case of plugging or music, clearly seen BEHIND THE SCENES, things in, but also and heard and perfectly MADE UP OF SPLIT-SECOND about understanding lit, but organised chaos DECISIONS, LAST-MINUTE how everything reigns behind the FIXES THAT PUT CONSTANT connects, since a single scenes, made up of PRESSURE ON THE mistake in setup can split-second decisions, TECHNICAL TEAM. mean darkness or last-minute fixes that put constant pressure on the technical silence, instead of a perfectly lit and team to ensure that nothing goes audible performance. And with often wrong, and to prevent that dreaded limited time, equipment and people, moment when everyone watches the everything must be done efficiently. frantic tech team running around and trying to find out who unplugged the Sound, in particular, is far more theatre speakers to charge their phone. complicated than most realise. It’s 114 Mind’s Eye | July 2026

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not just about making things louder.

It’s about balance. Voices need to be clear, backing tracks need to provide support, and this all must adapt constantly to what is happening onstage. One wrong adjustment can cause ear-piercing feedback or a lost line, and the audience might not know why something sounds ‘off’ but they’ll notice it immediately.

Lighting is just as important, even if it is less obvious. Good lighting doesn’t draw attention to itself; it simply makes everything look right, directing the audience’s attention to certain features of the performance, or an area on stage where the plot is deepening. Through little shifts of intensity and colour, the atmosphere can be completely changed, so a missed cue, even by a second, can break the illusion of a performance.

And then there’s the chaos. No matter how well everything is prepared, something always goes wrong. A microphone suddenly stops working just before someone walks out on stage. A cable that worked perfectly in rehearsals decides to not work during the performance. A cue is missed, or something unexpected happens on stage that forces an instant adjustment. In these moments there’s no time to panic and no opportunity to start again. Everything is live, and the only option is to fix the problem as quickly and quietly as possible.

What makes it even more challenging is that, if everything goes well, no one should even notice the tech. The audience doesn’t see the last-second cable swap or the rushed change to a lighting cue. They don’t hear the feedback caught just in time. The better the technical team performs, the more invisible they become, which is a strange way to measure the quality or success of a person or group of people. ‘It takes a lot of hard work to make something look simple,’ said Steve jobs.

That’s why technical work in theatre productions is often underestimated. Performers absolutely deserve recognition for what they do, but the technical side is what allows a performance to function at all. Without sound, the audience can’t hear what’s happening. Without lighting, they can’t see it. And without a team managing those elements in real time, even the most talented performers would struggle to deliver their best.

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BEFORE THE AUDIENCE EVEN WALKS IN, HOURS IF NOT DAYS OF WORK BEHIND THE SCENES HAVE ALREADY TAKEN PLACE.

In many ways the technical team are performers too. Running sound or lights during a show isn’t simple. It requires constant attention, quick thinking and precise timing. It’s a live performance in its own right, just without the applause at the end. Every cue, every adjustment and every decision contributes to the overall experience of the audience, even if they shouldn’t and don’t realise it.

So, when you sit in the audience and everything runs smoothly, it’s worth remembering what people don’t usually think about. Behind every clearly-heard line and perfectly-timed lighting change is a team working under pressure to keep the show together. You might not see them, and you might not hear about what went wrong, but without them the show would not go on at all. ¢

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A MISSED CUE, EVEN BY A SECOND, CAN BREAK THE ILLUSION OF A PERFORMANCE.

The audience doesn’t see the last-second cable swap or the rushed change to a lighting cue.

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ASUKA ARAI finds hope in the rubble of Gaza.

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ince 7 October 2023 the Middle Rina’s presentation was, for me, the East has returned to global most emotional session of the summit, attention largely through images but also the most hopeful. Over Easter, of destruction. As the war in Gaza I had the chance to reconnect with her intensifies and regional tensions spread and hear more about the story behind into Lebanon, around Iran, and across her work. There was one word she vital trade and security routes, the returned to again and again: ‘do’. At first, Middle East and North Africa (hereafter it sounded almost too simple. But the MENA) have once again more I learned, the more I been framed through grief, understood the weight it violence, and instability. carried.

None of that suffering should be minimised.

It all goes back to 7 THE MIDDLE EAST However, when a place is October.

Following AND NORTH AFRICA seen only through violence, a period of disbelief (HEREAFTER MENA) it risks becoming a headline and fear, her next HAVE ONCE AGAIN BEEN before it is a home. instinct was, ‘What can FRAMED THROUGH I do?’ So she texted her GRIEF, VIOLENCE, AND That is why I keep returning neighbourhood group INSTABILITY. to a very different image: chat asking for volunteers a room in Tel Aviv in to make schnitzels and September 2025, filled with more than bring them to displaced people from fifty women leaders connected through southern Israeli communities near their origins in the MENA region. What Gaza. Soon, her kitchen was filled with stayed with me most was not only the schnitzels. ‘Literally everyone, everyone reality of conflict, but the persistence helped,’ she said. In a time of crisis where of leadership and hope. Every woman the whole country shut down and the at Women Champion for Change (WCC) government lost control, it was civilians was a changemaker in her own right, but who stepped in. This was only one of one in particular came to embody what many ways people responded that day; I found so powerful about the summit: and only one of many ways Rina has Rina Naor, an Israeli Jewish peace activist. acted since.

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Later, she returned to southern Israel to deliver medical prescriptions to those in need. ‘I’ve seen it because I was there,’ she said. Having witnessed the aftermath of 7 October first-hand, acknowledging the suffering on the other side felt almost unbearable.

That’s why a few months later, when she encountered a magazine article describing the situation in Gaza, her instinct was a self-protective one – refusal. ‘I didn’t want to read it. I didn’t want to know,’ she said.

For three days, she would open the magazine to confront this reality of the other side in Gaza and close the Rather than letting that moment end magazine to retreat to her side. What with emotion, Rina acted on it. She brought her back to it on the third reached out to Dr Hassans on LinkedIn, and what began as a day was the teaching She texted her response to one article from her grandfather, neighbourhood grew into friendship, who was a Holocaust group chat asking for and a series of initiatives survivor: Always open volunteers to make that, in different ways, all your eyes. After reading schnitzels and bring ask the same question it, she said, ‘I cried. I them to displaced she had asked on 7 cried for humanity.’ people from southern October: What can I do?

What moved her further Israeli communities was that its author, the near Gaza.

In Gaza, this work took American-Palestinian Dr David Hassans, was able ‘to do shape through initiatives such as Gaza both’: even while experiencing the Children Village, an orphan village devastation of Gaza, he still asked after established during the war that has the Israeli hostages. His refusal of moral grown into a chain of schools now serving 18,000 children, and later the blindness stayed with her.

Women’s Centre. The Women’s Centre began by listening: after surveying 800 women who came to Gaza Children Village — many of them widows, single mothers, or adoptive mothers — Rina and her team found the need they expressed most strongly was access to clean, safe showers and support to build financial stability and care for their children.

Now, the Women Centre already has 40 women who have completed a social psychology support course, which was created to help rebuild their confidence and well-being. Outside Gaza, that same question took another form through Lumiflies, a non-profit organization. Lumiflies itself began with the idea of growing hope in this divided region through IsraeliPalestinian collaboration. However, soon enough, they discovered 200 existing Israeli-Palestinian collaborative projects already doing so. Creating hope was no longer the agenda: hope already existed, but it just needed to be amplified. So Lumiflies became the ‘hope incubator’, which equips existing projects with the marketing and support needed to scale and grow.

Creating hope was no longer the agenda: hope already existed, but it just needed to be amplified.

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My favourite project supported by Lumiflies is Mejdi Tours, where visitors get two guides to be shown through the same place by two narratives, one Israeli and one Palestinian. Lumiflies also connects hopeful but isolated initiatives to one another, what Rina describes as turning ‘one and one’ into ‘one plus one.’ At one ‘hope pitch’ event, people who described themselves as hopeless listened to these projects present their work. By the end, some were saying they ‘couldn’t believe [they] exist.’

Rina’s conviction in ‘doing’ continues.

Recently, she traveled across US cities to share her and Dr Hassan’s work and raise funds. She is now organising a second course at the Women’s Centre, this time focused on entrepreneurship. By the end of it, participants will have developed their own business plans and received a $US 1,000 start-up grant. The aim is not only to support these women, but to help them build financial independence.

To Rina, ‘do’ is what led to thousands of schnitzels being cooked in October 2023.

It is what connected her to Dr Hassans and led her to discover that hope had already existed. It is what enabled 18,000 orphaned and vulnerable children in Gaza to continue the education unjustly taken from them. It will soon be the reason why women in Gaza may gain access to clean and safe showers.

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FROM HER, I LEARNT THAT HOPE IS NOT PASSIVE – IT IS SOMETHING MADE VISIBLE THROUGH ACTION. This article is not trying to deny the reality in the Middle East, but to deliver the message that, behind the painful context, there are still individuals against all odds choosing action, care, and hope. WCC has made it harder for me to accept headlines as the whole story of MENA. I am grateful to have met such extraordinary women at the WCC summit.

What moved me the most about Rina was that she did not deny suffering close to her; she simply refused to let that be the limit of her humanity. From her, I learnt that hope is not passive – it is something made visible through action.

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THERE WAS ONE WORD SHE RETURNED TO AGAIN AND AGAIN: ‘DO’.

So now, I want to challenge you, as well as myself: ‘What can WE do?’ ¢

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BEHIND THE PAINFUL CONTEXT, THERE ARE STILL INDIVIDUALS AGAINST ALL ODDS CHOOSING ACTION, CARE, AND HOPE.

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AFTER READING IT, SHE SAID, ‘I CRIED. I CRIED FOR HUMANITY.’

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