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Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Why are some people faster than others? – Jon, age 14, Macon, Georgia

Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest human, ran a 100-meter sprint at a speed of 23.35 miles per hour (37.57 kilometers per hour).

That’s mind-blowingly fast for a human. It’s about the same speed as cruising in a car through your neighborhood or in a school zone. It might not seem that fast when you’re in the car, but for a person? Few runners in the world can even come close.

There are several reasons why some people can run very fast while others tend to run more slowly. Genetics – the traits you inherit from your parents – play a role, but so do your choices and experiences.

As pediatric exercise scientists, we create and evaluate programs that help children be healthy. The exciting news is that while you have no control over your genetics, you can train to improve your speed.

Fast twitch, slow twitch

One major factor that influences your ability to run fast is the structure of your body, including how your muscles work.

The human body has more than 600 muscles that work together, allowing you to move in different directions and at various speeds. These muscles are made up of groups of fibers. There are two main types: fast twitch and slow twitch.

Muscles have different mixes of these fiber types. For example, two muscles make up the calf: One is predominantly fast twitch – that’s the gastrocnemius, used for sprinting and jumping. The other is mostly slow twitch – that’s the soleus, used for walking and jogging.

Speed and endurance are both important when you’re playing soccer.
AP Photo/John Cowpland

Fast-twitch muscle fibers are larger and help your body move quickly and generate significant force. Sprinters tend to have an abundance of fast-twitch muscle fibers. However, this muscle fiber type also tires quickly, which limits how long you can run at top speed to relatively short distances.

Slow-twitch muscle fibers are smaller and help you run at slower speeds, but with greater endurance. Long-distance runners and competitive cyclists tend to have a lot of these muscles.

How much you have of each type of muscle fiber – fast twitch and slow twitch – is mostly determined by your genes, so you’ll have to work with what you’re born with when it comes to muscle types. But exercises can help train those muscles.

Your brain plays a big role

Physical ability isn’t just about muscle. Your brain plays an important role, too.

Your skeletal muscles are controlled by your brain – you think about your actions and then execute the movements. For example, you can control how long your stride is, how your arms move, how your feet hit the ground and even the techniques you use to breathe.

You can teach your body to use the best running techniques. That includes proper posture, so your body is standing tall, and an economical stride, so your feet land below you rather than too far out in front, where they can slow you down.

Five tips for running faster, from an Olympic sprinting coach.

You can also improve your running form by using your whole body, with your arms pumping in opposition to the legs, running on your toes and maximizing the time spent in flight phase with both feet off the ground. Using proper running techniques helps the muscles create more force and work together, which helps you run faster.

The more you practice an activity, the better you will get. As your ability to run fast increases, challenge yourself to run even faster.

How to train to run faster – myth-busting!

You may have heard your friends chatting about ways to boost your speed or searched the internet for tips on getting faster. Time to bust some of those myths.

Myth 1: You have to run as fast as you can to train to be faster. That’s false!

You don’t have to run as fast as you can to get faster, and it actually helps to take short breaks to recover in between activities where you are sprinting.

Myth 2: You need to lift heavy weights to get faster. False!

Functional strength training involves performing exercises that help you get better at specific movements. They involve using either medium weights or just the resistance of your own body weight. Doing planks, lunges, step-ups or jump squats are great examples. These activities focus on the muscles that are instrumental during running.

Myth 3: You need to specialize in running early in life to become a fast runner. False!

Picking one activity to focus on early in life may actually limit your ability to develop into a fast runner. Doing a variety of physical activities can help you develop new skills that improve your running. For example, the movements and endurance used in soccer may translate into the ability to run faster.

Myth 4: Training isn’t fun. False!

Training programs can take many shapes and forms. You can play running games with your friends, work on fast footwork using an agility ladder or create obstacle courses. There’s nothing like a little healthy competition to motivate your training.

What’s important is having fun while training and participating in
activities that promote running speed on a regular basis.

So, whether you want to be the next Usain Bolt or you just want to win a race against your friend, remember that with a little bit of genetic luck and hard work, it may just be possible. Läs mer…

Buzzwords describing the digital dating scene are all over social media. Have you been ghosted? Is someone orbiting you? Are you being breadcrumbed? While these dating patterns may not be new, the words to describe them continue to evolve.

As a psychotherapist, I see firsthand the impact these experiences can have on mental health. Given the sheer number of people using dating apps – 53% of American 18-to-29-year-olds and 37% of 30-to-49-year-olds – it’s likely you have some first- or secondhand exposure to this world.

If you’re curious about the latest psychological research on digital dating – and are looking for evidence-based strategies to cope – read on.

Ghosting and orbiting

Ghosting is a sudden disruption in a relationship without any explanation. The “ghoster” vanishes suddenly, often leaving the other person with questions. And orbiting? That’s when someone ghosts but continues to follow the other person on social media by watching stories or occasionally engaging in their content. These behaviors are pretty common, and you might wonder about their impact.

A 2022 study compared the psychological consequences of being ghosted, orbited or rejected by asking 176 participants about one randomly assigned breakup strategy they had experienced out of these three. Then, participants completed a questionnaire rating various feelings about their breakup.

While feelings of rejection did not differ between the three breakup strategies – the end of a relationship hurts regardless – the results showed that ghosting led to stronger feelings of exclusion than being rejected outright. People in the ghosting category were also more likely to feel that their basic needs of belonging, self-esteem and control were threatened.

Being orbited, on the other hand, seemed to buffer victims partially from the emotional consequences of a breakup. Victims of orbiting, too, reported feeling higher levels of exclusion and threat to their basic needs than those who were rejected outright, but less than victims of ghosting did. Perhaps sporadic attention softens feelings of exclusion.

These findings are in line with other research. Understanding a breakup is important and helps individuals recover from the event. With no explanation, the rejected individual may be left feeling confused and uncertain, sometimes with unhealed psychological wounds.

Orbiting may cause further ambiguity, as the orbiter’s behavior suggests a mild residual interest in the other person. An individual might wonder if the other person is still attracted or might want to return to the relationship. For some people, this uncertainty can be harmful, while others find it easier to let go of a relationship if they’re still receiving some level of digital attention.

A pair of studies in 2004 and 2005 showed people prefer receiving negative attention over being ignored entirely. In these role-playing experiments, those who experienced ostracism reported lower levels of belonging, control, meaningful existence and superiority than those who experienced an argument.

Being toyed with by a potential partner is especially damaging.
MementoJpeg/Moment/via Getty Images

Breadcrumbing

Breadcrumbing is when someone drops morsels of flirtatious attention to keep the other person interested, even though they have no intention of participating in a relationship. Some classic signs of breadcrumbing are not responding to messages for long periods of time, vague communication, and avoidance of discussions related to feelings. These patterns tend to boost the breadcrumber’s ego, self-worth and sense of power.

For the person being breadcrumbed, it’s a different story. A 2020 study of 626 adults found victims of breadcrumbing were significantly more likely to have feelings of loneliness, helplessness and less life satisfaction than victims of ghosting. Because people on the receiving end of breadcrumbing remain in limbo longer, they experience repeated feelings of exclusion and ostracism. The ongoing nature of breadcrumbing explains why it can have more negative effects on mental health.

Taking care of yourself

Given the prevalence of these behaviors, it’s likely you’ve employed some of these dating tactics yourself. If so, I invite you to be mindful and think about how these patterns are serving you and consider your impact on others.

If you’re also on the receiving end, here are some evidence-based strategies you can use to support yourself and maintain a positive outlook about the dating scene.

Any time you have an experience, your mind is quick to create a narrative around what happened in order to make sense of it and create an illusion of control or safety. If you’re not aware of the stories you tell yourself, you may find yourself incorrectly assigning blame or fault, which can lead to negative self-talk, anxiety and depression.

For example, rather than think, “I did something wrong to cause them to ghost me,” you could think, “Their decision to disengage from the relationship is more about them and how they relate to others than it is about me.” Being mindful of your cognitive patterns and practicing changing your narratives can help keep online dating from wreaking havoc on your psyche.

Living your values can have many benefits.
miodrag ignjatovic/E+/via Getty Images

It’s also crucial to take inventory of what’s most important to you. Identifying your values will not only allow you to better match with like-minded people, but it will also improve your relationship with yourself. When your life aligns with what’s important to you, you increase its meaning, purpose and overall well-being. In living this way, you might find looking for a relationship is less urgent, which could help you to better spot red flags or mismatches.

I also recommend varying the ways you connect to others to mitigate burnout. A healthy mix of apps and meeting people “in the wild” will often yield the best outcome and allow the dating adventure to remain exciting. Läs mer…

The rate of women killed by their partners in Australia grew by 28% from 2021–22 to 2022–23, according to new statistics released today by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC).

There were 34 women killed in intimate partner incidents in the financial year 2022–23, which is the equivalent of 0.32 per 100,000 people. The year before, the rate was 0.25 such homicides per 100,000.

Historically, the rate of women killed by their partners has been on the decline since the late 1980s and early 1990s. It has decreased by 66% over the past 34 years, according to the AIC.

However, the uptick in the homicide rate last year – coupled with the sharp rise in women killed in the first four months of 2024 – are cause for mounting concern for all Australians.

Historically low overall homicide rate

The AIC released two reports on statistics emerging from its National Homicide Monitoring Program, a database that has been in operation since July 1989.

The institute reports 232 overall homicide incidents were recorded by Australian state and territory police between July 1 2022 and June 30 2023, which resulted in 247 homicide victims.

The Australian homicide rate (0.87 deaths per year per 100,000 population) remains historically low. There has been a 52% reduction in homicide incidents since 1989‒90, indicative of a long-term downward trend in unlawful killings.

The report reveals police, prosecutors and courts are doing a good job, with 90% of cases being resolved through the justice system. That is, only 10% of homicide incidents in 2022‒23 were not “cleared,” meaning cases where an offender has yet to be identified, a suspect has not yet been charged, or a person is declared missing and police believe it’s linked to foul play.

A closer look at the figures

There are important features of the latest data that require further examination.

First, there is a significant gender disparity: in 2022-23, 87% of homicide offenders were male, while 69% of homicide victims were male. Predominantly, men are killing men.

And while men were most likely to be killed by a friend, acquaintance or some other person who was not a family member, women were more likely to be killed by a former or current partner (49% of all victims).

There is also a massive First Nations disparity in terms of victims and offenders.

Forty-nine of the homicide victims in Australia identified as First Nations (35 men and 14 women) – that is, 20% of victims.

The homicide victimisation rate of Indigenous men was more than seven times higher than non-Indigenous men at 7.65 per 100,000 people, compared to just 1.04 per 100,000. The disparity does not change with gender. The homicide rate was 3.07 per 100,000 for Indigenous women, compared with 0.45 per 100,000 for non-Indigenous women.

Of the 260 homicide offenders in 2022–23, 28% identified as First Nations.

These statistics merit repeating. First Nations people (3.8% of the population) comprised 20% of victims and 28% of perpetrators in homicide cases. That is an unacceptable state of affairs, which should be causing policymakers enormous concern.

Also noteworthy was that the recent rise in the homicide rate is mirrored in the domestic and family violence data found in police reports.

The number of people reporting sexual assaults has continued to increase over the past five years. According to the 2024 report of the Productivity Commission, the rate of victimisation in sexual crimes in 2022 was 124 per 100,000 population. In 2016, the rate was 95 per 100,000.

A rally to a call for action to end violence against women in Canberra on April 28.
Lukas Coch/AAP

Why statistics require the right interpretation

From a criminologist’s perspective, there are a few things to bear in mind when considering these statistics.

The first is that interpretations of official crime data always require caution. There are various reasons for this:

much (if not most) crime is not reported to police or discovered by police
there are biases in the criminal justice system (especially when it comes to police discretion)
definitions of crime and counting rules and methods will differ according to jurisdiction
the data are usually generalised across state and territory jurisdictions, rather than presented as pertaining to specific cities, towns and regions.

Moreover, long-term trends are often ignored in the rush to analyse short-term crime rate fluctuations.

Having said that, homicide figures are usually the most accurate when tracking crime trends, given the obvious nature of the crime. So, making policy based on these data should be easier, one would think.

But this is not always the case. We need to bear in mind the impact of the institutional responses we are likely to offer when interpreting the data.

Read more:
We’re all feeling the collective grief and trauma of violence against women – but this is the progress we have made so far

For example, how do we reduce or eliminate the seemingly unrelenting number of murders perpetrated by men against their intimate partners? How do we reduce or eliminate the massive disparity of violence affecting some Indigenous communities? One might think the best response is to arrest more people and lock more people up for longer.

Such an approach should, however, be a last resort. We need to recognise that every dollar spent in criminal justice services is a dollar that’s not spent on women’s shelters, education programs for young men on the importance of respect for women, and programs to improve the living standards and educational and employment opportunities for those who identify as First Nations. That’s where our dollars ought to be spent.

A decade ago, the American criminologist Elliott Currie talked about the importance of allocating resources designed to bring about what he referred to as “transformative intervention.” This involves:

helping people to move beyond the individualistic, often exploitative, often uncaring cultural orientations […] and to begin to relate differently to themselves, to those around them, and to the larger community (and the planet): to nurture alternative ways of looking at the world and their place in it that […] will be less violent, less predatory and less exploitative.

Such a transformation is something we need to take into account here in Australia as a matter of priority. Läs mer…

Mangroves are one of most important ecosystems on the world’s coasts. They absorb the impact of storms, prevent erosion, provide food and safety for fish and other animals and can store huge amounts of carbon in the mud that builds up below them.

However, due to their delicate location in the transition zone between the land and the sea, they also face several human-made threats such as pollution and climate change-driven sea level rise.

That’s why it is critical to get updated and accurate information on the whereabouts and extent of mangrove forests in order to conserve and manage them more effectively. In our latest research, we used images captured by Earth orbiting satellites to map the past and present mangrove cover on the tropical island of Mauritius.

Islands are particularly vulnerable to climate change, especially its effects related to the sea, such as a rise in sea level or increasingly powerful hurricanes. Like many other small islands, Mauritius relies heavily on its coast as a source of income. That’s why it’s crucial to be able to take quick action to protect itself and handle the impacts of climate change.

Mangroves have long been recognised as a natural way to mitigate such threats. We used freely available satellite images to track them in Mauritius, which could eventually help support the island’s efforts to adapt to a changing climate.

Satellites to monitor mangroves

We collected GPS coordinates of mangroves at two sites, Le Morne in the south and Ferney in the south east. Le Morne is a fairly new mangrove plantation site within sandy beaches. Mangroves at Ferney have grown naturally, are mature and grow mainly along the muddy banks of the Champagne River.

Mature mangrove forest at Ferny, Mauritius.
Reshma Sunkur

We then retrieved free satellite images from the Earth orbiting satellites SPOT-5 for the year 2013 and Sentinel 2A for 2023. We analysed the data with user-friendly software that did not require programming skills. We trained and tested our model using the field data we collected and obtained results with accuracy of 90% and above compared to data gathered on the ground.

With the satellite images, we found that mangrove cover increased significantly at Le Morne from 0.06 hectares (ha) in 2013 to 4.6 ha in 2023. This was as expected: it’s an active mangrove plantation and has been for years. Our results are in line with the actual extent of mangroves as measured by people on site.

At Ferney, we also noted an increase of from 20.8 ha in 2013 to 26.3 ha in 2023. Here, we attribute the increase to natural regeneration taking place in adjacent mudflats.

The authors’ research shows mangroves (purple) have expanded at both sites over the past decade.
Sunkur et al / Scientific Reports, CC BY-SA

The technique we used in this study shows that satellite images and graphical software can do an efficient job mapping mangroves across landscapes. This can provide useful insights to support decision making to increase resilience to climate change.

Why the study matters

Generally, ecosystem monitoring using satellite imagery is still in its infancy in island nations like Mauritius. This is due to several challenges especially the lack of human expertise and programming skills among biologists.

But if we can address these issues, we can use satellite images to obtain critical information. For instance, satellites can detect changes – such as the forest growing, shrinking or thinning – earlier than might be apparent from the ground. Satellites equipped with radar or specialised sensors can measure the height and structure of forests, which can provide valuable information on biomass density and hence how much carbon the forest has the capacity to store.

Satellite images can also help engage local people in restoration efforts and they can help scientists map changes along the coast and assess how vulnerable mangroves might be.

When we monitor mangroves using such techniques, we can become more resilient to climate change. Overall, our study shows how technology like satellite imagery analysis can provide precise, repeatable and cost-effective monitoring of mangroves.

Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 30,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far. Läs mer…

Burnout is a state of mental and physical exhaustion, usually related to your work situation. Paradoxically, the more passionate and responsible you are, the more likely you are to burn out since you’ll be unwilling to stop at times of being overwhelmed, not wanting to make others pick up the slack.

Ninety-three per cent of adults in the UK have symptoms of burnout, according to a mental health charity. It is a relatively recent standard of contemporary lives to spend most of our days working, not to mention commuting, raising children and taking care of your health, house, pets and belongings.

We’re also expected to have healthy and meaningful personal relationships that include family, friends and other acquaintances. And on top of that to be successful, mindful and find time for rest and hobbies. Not to mention getting eight hours of good sleep, while you exercise regularly and cook nutritious meals.

It’s a lot. And yet, we all constantly strive to keep up and
improve, and many of us manage to do it for prolonged periods. But stability is a rare commodity, and once you reach the point where you seemingly get it all under control, something unexpected happens and you have to start over.

Some jobs escape the typical nine-to-five routine, such as artistic, creative or research careers that never reach the point where you can say you’ve done all you needed for the day. There is always another article to write, a film to make, a book to read, or a painting to paint. You simply don’t switch off at 5pm on Friday.

Instead, you carry ideas and to-do lists with you even when you’re seemingly out of work. This can be exciting and rewarding, but it also requires a lot of energy and stamina. Creative jobs also carry a sense of uncertainty about whether you will satisfy the expectations and deliver on time, and they often include a component of chance.

Managing that can be very energy consuming. But, according to psychologist Gloria Mark, the author of Attenion Span, there is only so much focus you can have at a given time. And creative jobs cannot be done on auto-pilot. It’s necessary to replenish your energy to be able to keep going and remain creative.

Maintaining balance is crucial for those with creative jobs.
Pexels/Nataliya Vaitkevich

Recovering from burnout

While the reasons for burnout are pretty universal, recovery is more nuanced. What happens if there is an overlap between what pushed you towards burnout and what relaxes you? What if writing or producing video content is part of your job, but it is also what you love doing for fun? How can you reconcile the two and find the right balance?

There is no doubt the same activity can be both a daunting chore and an effective therapy. What makes it different is the heaviness of responsibility and the fact that you “must” versus the lightness and enjoyment of the possibility of what you “can”. It is also to do with your personal versus societal expectations. Whenever possible, we should be doing things because we truly enjoy them, driven by intrinsic motivation rather than societal expectations and external promises.

It often boils down to affording yourself the comfort of slowing down, a rare commodity in our busy professional lives. Writing about overworking and “under-living”, journalist Celeste Headlee attests to the damage the “cult of efficiency” has done to our wellbeing, replacing the joy of play with a frantic race of never-ending productivity.

In her revealing book Do Nothing, Headle offers a refreshing alternative to the tyranny of business, inviting readers to reassess our priorities and reminding us that sometimes we can accomplish more by doing less. By investing in leisure and nurturing genuine human connection, by savouring your time rather than mindlessly chasing the impossible standards of hyper-productivity, we replenish our energy and get better at doing things more meaningfully.

The psychology of flow, conceived by psychologist Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi, also stresses the importance of unstructured and often unplanned events that inspire creativity and leaves you in a state of uninterrupted focus and enjoyment. But this cannot be forced and it’s not always attainable.

The bottom line is: listen to your body and mind and don’t ignore the warning signs. If you feel constantly stressed and exhausted, it’s better to stop before it’s too late. A short break might be all you need to replenish your energy and motivation. Mindlessly pushing ahead because you “have to” is very shortsighted and will inevitably backfire.

Disconnect and do things you enjoy without the goal of achieving anything. Don’t expect any results and don’t be bothered by any expectations. Simply enjoy the pleasure of doing things for its own sake. Life gets so much lighter and more meaningful this way.

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In 2022, as the world was slowly beginning to recover from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, an outbreak of mpox – then still called monkeypox – began spreading at an alarming rate in many countries worldwide. Confirmed cases were cropping up in places where the disease wasn’t normally present (endemic) – and it was spreading quickly among certain groups.

Global mpox infections have fallen significantly since the height of this outbreak. But a recent paper, which has not yet been peer reviewed, has renewed concerns about the potential for mpox to cause another global outbreak like that seen in 2022.

The researchers, who analysed mpox samples from patients in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), discovered a new cluster of mpox variants. This cluster is genetically distinct from the variants that were circulating in 2022 – and alarmingly, this variant has evolved rapidly.

However, this is just one example of the way mpox has continued to evolve since the 2022 outbreak.

Mpox virus, as the name suggests, is a pox virus. It’s related to smallpox, cowpox and other animal pox viruses. Notably, it’s not related to chickenpox, although there are some shared symptoms.

Mpox symptoms include rash, fever, sore throat and swollen lymph nodes. The rash, which is often the first symptom people notice, can develop into liquid-filled blisters. However, some people exhibit no symptoms.

The virus is transmitted between people through close contact, respiratory droplets or direct contact with open blisters. The case fatality rate varies – and can be as high as 10% in some instances.

Mpox was first discovered in laboratory monkeys in the 1950s. The first human case was reported in 1970 in the DRC. Since then, outbreaks of mpox have been small and traceable to a single person – typically someone who had recently returned from a country where the virus is endemic – such as west and central Africa.

The 2022 outbreak was unlike any previously seen outside of Africa. Infections were reported in 117 countries – with 95,226 cases and 185 deaths confirmed since the height of the outbreak.

Mpox’s genetic evolution

Mpox is a large virus. Its particles are often described as being “brick-shaped”. To match its clunky appearance, it also has a very large genome for a virus. The genome contains all the information the virus needs to produce new virus particles. Because of mpox’s large DNA genome, it tends to evolve more slowly than viruses with smaller genomes – such as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID.

A virus can be clustered into categories based on differences in their genome sequence – referred to as clades. Clades are like the leafy branches of a tree. The more leaves you have on a branch (the clade), the more genetic variants you have in that particular clustering.

The number of branches and leaves on the tree vary for a number of reasons – such as how quickly a virus mutates and how many people are infected. Sometimes, these clades will branch even further into sub-clades.

Using genetic sequencing, scientists can wind back the molecular clock and work out how old a variant is. This is important for establishing an outbreak timeline, working out the virus’ mutation rate and where a particular variant fits on the tree branch.

Mpox causes liquid-filled blisters.
Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo

Before 2022, mpox could be clustered into two distinct clades. Clade I was typically found in the Congo basin of central Africa, while clade II isolates were found in west Africa.

Clade I was associated with severe disease and a higher case fatality rate. Clade II tended to be associated with less severe disease. But around 2016, variants from clade II started readily spreading between people in Nigeria. This means the genome changed, potentially allowing it to be more transmissible.

Scientists also used genetic sequencing to work out the timelines of the 2022 global mpox outbreak. Importantly, they were able to analyse what had changed in new samples compared to older virus samples.

A string of tell-tale mutations in these mpox samples confirmed the virus was spreading from person-to-person at a rapid rate. Previously, mpox outbreaks tended to originate almost entirely via animal-to-human transmission. Furthermore, a new clade – clade IIb – had formed.

There’s still many questions we can’t answer about the 2022 outbreak – including about what events led to the sustained transmission that happened between people. Yet, based on the low case fatality rate during the outbreak and subsequent research in mice, clade IIb appears to have reduced virulence compared to other clade I. Less virulence means it’s less fatal – which might contribute to the virus being able to spread more easily between people.

This recent pre-print paper, which used samples from the 2023 mpox outbreak in the DRC, has now identified a new offshoot from clade I – clade Ib. This shows mpox is continuing to adapt and becoming more genetically diverse.

This is indeed concerning, especially considering mpox from clade I was associated with more severe disease and a higher case fatality rate. We still don’t fully understand why mpox is becoming more genetically diverse within such a short period of time.

Mpox can be a dangerous infection for the very young and those that have weakened immune function. We also don’t have a vaccine for mpox yet, so rely on cross-immunity from often limited stocks of the smallpox vaccine. Treatments for mpox infections are also limited.

It’s important scientists and doctors continue to monitor new cases worldwide so we can understand how the virus is evolving – and hopefully get closer to breaking the cycle of human-to-human transmission. Läs mer…

In the high end world of luxury and heritage, many brands are still owned and managed by the original founding family. The issue of succession planning, therefore, can be particularly important. This recently came to the fore for founder of the world’s largest luxury conglomorate, LVMH, and the wealthiest man on the planet, French billionaire Bernard Arnault.

There’s been much speculation over Arnault’s succession plan. The 75-year-old chairman and CEO of LVMH had his retirement age raised from 75 to 80 in 2022, which should keep him at the helm of the €440 billion (£377 billion) empire for another couple of years at least. LVMH is home to Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy, among many other top-end brands, and generated a cool €86.2 billion in sales in 2023.

This month, two more of Arnault’s five children were appointed to the LVMH board at the conglomorate’s AGM in Paris. The move leaves just one offspring, youngest son Jean, without a seat (although he is employed at the firm). It also gives the family 48.6% of LVMH’s share capital and 64.3% of the voting rights.

Luxury brands often use their heritage as a selling point. With the globalisation of the sector, the nature of luxury consumption is changing. Succession planning allows the infusion of fresh perspectives and ideas, and helps the brand to be agile and adapt to evolving tastes and trends. The two latest Arnault appointments are young – aged just 29 and 31.

A well-executed succession plan also provides stakeholders with a sense of stability and confidence in the business’s trajectory, mitigating uncertainties and fostering trust in the brand’s resilience.

LVMH isn’t the sole luxury brand with familial management. Others, including Hermès, Chanel, Prada, Zegna and Ferragamo also adhere to this tradition. But LVMH stands out as the largest multi-brand luxury conglomerate predominantly controlled by a single family.

The company boasts a glittering portfolio of brands, each with its own storied heritage and cultural significance. From Louis Vuitton’s iconic monogram to Moët & Chandon’s legacy in the champagne world, LVMH’s brands collectively project an image of luxury craftsmanship and artistry. Other major brands under the LVMH umbrella include Fendi, Celine, Bulgari, Hublot and TAG Heuer.

Multi-brand luxury conglomerates enjoy distinct advantages, including economies of scale, diversified revenue streams and increased bargaining power with suppliers and retailers. But there are also unique challenges compared to mono-brand enterprises.

First, harmonising brand identities and ensuring consistency across product lines and market segments poses a formidable task. Each brand boasts its own lineage, ethos and customer base, which need to be carefully navigated to preserve individual identities.

Resource allocation across brands with diverse needs demands a delicate equilibrium. Investment decisions must align with each brand’s growth potential, market positioning and strategic objectives, while also safeguarding the conglomerate’s overall financial health and longevity.

Internal competition between the brands for market share, resources and talent means there needs to be clear delineation of roles and mechanisms. Collaboration without encroaching on brand autonomy is the name of the game.

The family strategy

Arnault’s career at LVMH spans several decades, marked by bold acquisitions and strategic expansions. Under his stewardship, LVMH has emerged as a global powerhouse. In his succession plan, Arnault has strategically positioned his children – Antoine, Delphine and Alexandre – in key leadership roles within the company.

Antoine Arnault, the eldest son, has emerged as a prominent figure within the firm, responsible for guiding the strategic direction of LVMH’s retail businesses. Delphine Arnault, the eldest daughter, holds an important position within LVMH’s fashion division, which encompasses some of the world’s most iconic luxury brands.

As the executive vice president of Louis Vuitton, Delphine oversees the strategic development and expansion of the brand. Alexandre Arnault has been entrusted with spearheading LVMH’s technology and digital initiatives, reflecting the conglomerate’s approach to innovation and growth.

The Roy name was tied to media rather than luxury goods but the succession complexities were the same.

Looking outside

While sometimes it can pay dividends to keep things in the family, considering the challenges associated with heritage conglomerates such as LVMH, appointing an external leader can offer certain advantages. External leaders bring fresh perspectives and impartiality, unhampered by tricky familial biases or dynamics. This impartiality can be invaluable in navigating intra-group conflicts, fostering collaboration between brands and propelling innovation.

Bringing in an outsider can also mitigate risks tied to family dynamics, such as conflicts of interest or succession-related tensions, fostering a meritocratic culture where qualifications and performance are given priority. But when a brand is so closely tied to one family name, introducing an external leader may lead to resistance from family members worried about a departure from tradition.

Plus, the process of assimilating an external leader into the organisation’s ethos and aligning their vision with long-term strategic objectives can be a fine line to tread, and stakeholders must also be on board.

Succession planning in the luxury sector is a complex process that requires a careful balance of tradition, innovation and leadership. It serves as a custodian of the brand’s essence and a safeguard of its legacy in a complex marketplace. Getting the succession plan right, whether that means keeping things in the family or looking outside for new leadership, is crucial to maintain continuity and prosperity. Läs mer…

One hundred and twenty years after the Entente Cordiale, Britain and France are forging a new alliance.

The original 1904 agreement paved the way for a stronger relationship between the two countries, but this time the nations aim to use their partnership to patch up European commitment to Ukraine and exert pressure on the US.

In a recent letter to The Telegraph, British foreign secretary Lord Cameron and his French counterpart, Stéphane Séjourné, minister for Europe and foreign affairs, highlighted both the “enduring commitment to our friendship” and their success in together having “helped to forge a better world”.

But the stakes now are high. War continues to rage in Ukraine. The US’s hard power commitment remains fallible, and its US$60 billion (£47 billion) of financial support was stuck in Congress until just this week. Europe’s response meanwhile remains fragile, with divisions and disunity threatening both the EU and transatlantic responses.

Can the Anglo-French alliance inspire fresh commitments from other nations? Cameron and Séjourné certainly think so. They suggest that they can “seize together the opportunities offered by our partnership”. More significantly, as cardinal components of Nato, they have “a responsibility in driving the alliance to deal with the challenges before it”, first by demanding an enhanced commitment from European and US allies, and second by pushing harder for improved European security structures.

British and French support

Since the February 2022 invasion, both countries have arguably been stalwart supporters of providing Ukraine with the full scope of its requirements to defend its sovereign territory. This has included the provision of lethal weapons, aid, training and finance, supported by diplomatic commitment.

The UK, for example, has been responsible for two substantial projects to provide Ukraine with military assistance since the invasion of Crimea in 2014. Operation Orbital involved intensively training 22,000 troops from the armed forces of Ukraine, bringing both their infantry and medic skills to Nato’s standards. Operation Interflex significantly improved Ukraine’s anti-armour capabilities before the invasion and has since provided further concentrated aid and training, totalling more than US$5 million (£3.9 million) across 2022 and 2023.

The UK has also worked alongside nine other international partners, enabling more than 17,000 Ukrainian recruits to complete a five-week training course in the UK, while establishing a wider international effort to train a further 67,000 Ukrainian troops in more than 30 countries.

Together the UK and France have pressured the EU, and Germany in particular, into groundbreaking commitments of military aid. In doing so, Britain has become a strategic pacesetter in its provision of increasingly sophisticated weapons systems to Kyiv, including Challenger 2 main battle tanks, announced in January 2023, motivating Germany to commit Leopard 2 tanks less than a fortnight later.

UK and Dutch support recently triggered the construction of a new
international aerial coalition, including the US, to procure F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine in the first instance, and in the longer term, enabling better coordination with Nato allies.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky with weapons provided by western partners, including Storm Shadow missiles.
Ukrainian president/Alamy

While Britain and France have supported Ukraine with cutting-edge hardware, including UK Storm Shadow cruise missiles and French SCALP-ELG Storm Shadow missiles, the question is whether their own commitment is sufficiently influential to draw others to emulate them. There are decent examples here: the Storm Shadow pledge placed significant pressure on the US to step up its own donations of Army Tactical Missile Systems, and pushed Germany to commit Taurus cruise missiles. However, German chancellor Olaf Scholz has still not committed to this.

But there are also worrying gaps. Delays caused by the US House of Representatives in approving the US$60 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine is part of ongoing anxiety that the US may simply elect to draw down its commitments, and ultimately withdraw its support for Europe as a whole under a possible second Trump administration.

Delays from Germany, disagreements among EU countries over anti-Russian sanctions – as well as the ongoing strain of high energy prices, and diminishing military stockpiles – may also take their toll on the EU’s overall appetite for ongoing support for Ukraine.

The consequences of uneven European defence are serious, with even “Ukraine’s most ardent European backers struggling to prevent the Western effort becoming fractured and piecemeal”, according to geopolitical expert and former Foreign Office representative to the Ukraine Samir Puri.

British and French leadership

Britain and France could capitalise on their leadership to coordinate the war effort in terms of defence and diplomacy by keeping allies in the fight, now and in the medium term. This includes everything from providing immediate supplies of weapons to Ukraine itself, to making sure the UK and EU training missions for the Ukrainian armed forces work together.

In the longer term, the overarching security guarantees that UK, French and the EU can provide for Ukraine, along with the US, will dictate the transition from war to ceasefire and beyond. Doing so could shore up the transatlantic aspect of the conflict, as far as US commitment is concerned, but serve to stimulate both the EU and Nato to support more explicit defence initiatives. While avoiding the temptation for geopolitical point-scoring, the diplomatic dividends for Britain allow it continue to demonstrate its post-Brexit roles and responsibilities.

Leadership opportunities

The next few months offer important opportunities for this Anglo-French alliance to make their case. This includes the European Political Community Summit, to be held on July 18 at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, while the Nato summit in Washington DC on July 9-11 will also be key. In addition there are ongoing meetings of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, in which the US and its European allies agree to supply material and moral support to Ukraine.

Post-Brexit, France needs to clarify its own leadership ambitions, both by doing the EU’s institutional heavy lifting, but, more importantly, making it explicit that the EU needs to bet big on a defence agenda. The UK, in turn, is considering its post-Brexit and transatlantic role, with recent increases in defence spending operating as a method of urging European Nato allies to follow suit.

The UK and France partnership on Ukraine has the potential to add pressure to European groups and transatlantic forums to which they both belong, in order to try and secure Europe’s borders and to make sure Ukraine has the military power to continue to push back against Russia’s territorial landgrab. Läs mer…

The May local elections are shaping up to be the last major test of public opinion before the much-awaited general election on the horizon at an unspecified point this year.

There are more than 2,600 local council seats being contested, covering 107 local authorities in England. On a bigger and more symbolic scale, there are 11 English regional mayoral contests, including in Manchester and London.

There are also elections for 37 police and crime commissioners for England and Wales. No elections are happening in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

At the start of the year, it was speculated that the local elections could coincide with the general election, but the Conservatives’ persistently dismal polling figures have put paid to that option. The consensus now indicates a likely autumn general election.

These local votes will nevertheless be a crucial indicator of the public mood. Here are seven things to look out for on the day.

1. A vote share of barely 20% for the Tories

Based on current polling, the Conservatives will certainly have limited optimism and morale going into this cycle of elections. With consistently big Labour poll leads of 20 points or more, prime minister Rishi Sunak will be seeking to manage expectations rather than hoping for a good result.

When these seats were last fought in 2021, Boris Johnson was prime minister and was still relatively popular. The Conservatives won an impressive 40% of the national vote.

Current polling suggests Sunak can expect something more like a percentage share in the low 20s. As a concerning historical precedent for the Conservatives, John Major’s government slumped to 25% of the local election vote in 1995 ahead of a huge general election loss in 1997.

2. A leadership challenge against Rishi Sunak

A very bad result could spell immediate trouble for Sunak, even before the general election. It has been suggested that a leadership challenge, potentially from the right of the party, could follow a terrible night at the locals.

A loss of 500 of the roughly 900 council seats being defended by the Conservatives is predicted as being a moment of danger for Sunak’s premiership. Some of his most ardent internal critics will argue that Sunak is just not cutting through to the public, and that another leader would have a better chance of preventing a rout at the general election.

Should a leadership challenge be mounted after the local elections, Sunak could respond by calling a snap summer election for June in order to flush out and defeat his internal critics – and to prevent even worse intra-party divisions emerging.

3. A huge turnaround for Labour…

Labour only polled 30% when this set of seats were last fought during a period of recovery and transition between the Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer leadership eras.

Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Labour’s West Midlands mayoral candidate Richard Parker on the campaign trail.
Alamy

With the party now consistently polling over 40%, the key test is to see if such polling translates into actual votes.

Labour will be looking to make gains in key English regions aligned with the party’s parliamentary target seats (notably in parts of the southern suburbs and the northern “red wall” areas). The scale of local election gains will indicate what the party can perhaps expect at an upcoming general election, and influence future strategy and targeting accordingly.

The party will expect to retain Sadiq Khan’s mayoralty in London for a third term, despite a determined Conservative challenge.

4.…but warning signs over Gaza

Labour will also hope that disaffected left wing voters do not continue to drift to the Greens, who have made some progress at recent local elections, often in traditional Labour areas.

There are also indicators from recent council byelections that both left independents and Liberal Democrats have made some inroads following Labour’s shift towards the centre and as a result of opposition to its position on the Gaza conflict. This could also undermine the party’s overall momentum.

5. Incumbent mayors under pressure

While most of the large city (metro) mayoralties are Labour strongholds, the Conservatives retained both the West Midlands and Tees Valley in 2021. Both are considered to be traditional Labour areas but also formed part of the critical red wall that fell to the Conservatives in 2019. Both areas contain multiple marginal parliamentary seats.

Sunak on a campaign visit with Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen.
PA/Ian Forsyth

Should one or both of the high-profile incumbents Andy Street and Ben Houchen lose, it would represent a severe setback to longer-term Conservative electoral prospects and strategy. Both mayors have been very popular, so losing to Labour would fuel the negative narrative and backward momentum blighting the Conservatives.

6. A byelection the Tories wanted to bury

As a further electoral twist on a busy polling day, the Blackpool South byelection is also taking place. This follows the resignation of Conservative MP Scott Benton over a lobbying scandal.

After a series of byelection losses, the Conservatives scheduled this byelection on the same day as multiple other votes, probably with a view to minimising damaging headlines. A Labour gain in this marginal seat appears inevitable, given that the Tories have a majority of just 3,700 (11.3%). It’s the scale of the victory that counts here, though. Labour is aiming for a huge swing in order to keep up the narrative that has surrounded previous byelections this year.

7. A big test for turnout and voter ID

There are real concerns that new voter ID rules may suppress voter turnout. Last year it was estimated that 14,000 people were stopped from voting in the May elections – the first to enforce voter ID.

In an already low turnout environment, similar figures could suppress participation and potentially have a critical impact on various close-run results across the country.

Looking ahead

There are lots of interesting dynamics at play on May 2. There are meaningful consequences for local communities, who are voting for new councillors and mayors – and there are more nebulous consequences for the party leaders. What happens at the local level could significantly influence the likely date, shape and outcome of the forthcoming general election. Läs mer…

Political history scholar Jonny Steinberg’s 2023 book Winnie & Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage is a double biography of South Africa’s most famous political figures – Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela Mandela – and their role in the country’s struggle for democracy. It’s also a book that shatters countless myths about the couple and the liberation struggle that have been formed in popular culture and even academic tellings of history. As South Africa commemorates 30 years of democracy, we asked Steinberg for his views on how and why these historical myths are formed.

How did Winnie and Nelson become so mythologised?

It may be best to start with a working definition of myth. I don’t take myth to mean fiction; to mythologise isn’t necessarily to make things up that are not true. To say that a person is mythologised means that their personal story is told in a way that exemplifies something bigger, generally a lesson, like how the oppressed should respond to their own suffering, or how oppressive systems of rule should end.

To begin with, Winnie and Nelson mythologised themselves. Both intuitively understood that their greatest talent lay in public performance. Not just any public performance, but the sort that is exemplary, that embodies a collective spirit, a set of yearnings.

When Nelson went underground to start the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC) liberation movement Umkhonto we Sizwe he understood not just that he must wage an armed struggle, but that people must see what a black man who chooses to fight looks like.

Same with Winnie. When she appeared court in Johannesburg when Nelson was arrested in 1962, she brought two pairs of clothes: a traditional Thembu outfit for the courtroom to match the jackal-skin kaross she knew he would be wearing, and a business suit for the illegal march that would commence in the street after the hearing. She understood that for a black woman to confront the enemy in style was not a trivial matter or a mere detail. They both knew that wars were won and lost by the power of the myths one’s appearance tells.

But while Nelson and Winnie were responsible for the beginning of their mythologisation, others came on board later. In the late 1970s, ANC leader Oliver Tambo was approached with the idea of celebrating Mandela’s 60th birthday. He understood immediately that he’d been presented with the opportunity of crafting a hero figure to embody the struggle for freedom. He did not consult with the ANC executive because he knew they’d shout it down, warning of personality cults and so forth.

And so he gave the ANC the most powerful weapon imaginable, a simple story about a good man and a good woman who loved one another and had been torn asunder by an evil regime. Stories like that are worth their weight in gold. Imagine if the Palestinians had a story like that at their disposal now in their fight against Israeli occupation.

How does this play into the broader popular narrative about liberation?

Well, it meant that the very idea of freedom was embodied in a person, Nelson Mandela, which is an extraordinary thing, when you think about it. Would South Africa have been torn apart by civil war without the myth of Nelson Mandela? It’s a counterfactual question, the answer to which we’ll never know. But it’s certainly plausible to argue that we could not have crossed the bridge from apartheid to democracy without a blinding myth to mesmerise us all, so that we could walk together into the unknown.

That’s the positive side of the story. The negative side is that myths conceal a great deal. Tambo told colleagues quite bluntly that he promoted the myth of Mandela because Mandela was ANC and if the myth worked, rivals like the Pan Africanist Congress and the Black Consciousness Movement would lose. And so leaders of those movements like Robert Sobukwe and Steve Biko faded. ANC partisan history became hegemonic history. Vital, uncomfortable questions were suppressed. Like what it meant to be black and to reconcile with whites and on what terms such reconciliation was acceptable.

How did you arrive at a different telling of their stories?

I think that the Mandelas really did embody the story of their people’s struggle for freedom, but not in ways that they could control. I was so moved to discover that Nelson thought his life tragic in much the same way that the lives of so many black men under apartheid were tragic. He was a patriarch, and he was robbed of the means to protect his family. This humiliated and embittered him. It’s a quintessential South African story. Winnie, too. The insurrectionary violence of the 1980s was so scarring. So many people lost control over the violence they wielded. She was one of those people.

Winnie and Nelson’s story exemplifies all the pain and damage this country went through. They arrived at their freedom, but, just like their people, they did so battered and bruised. That they both had the strength to conceal the extent to which they were damaged seems heroic to me. They understood that they carried the myth of their people on their shoulders, and that if they broke, so would their people.

Is South Africa ready to view this struggle history through a clear lens?

If you’re asking whether there can ever be a single, objective way of understanding the past, one that we can all agree on, the answer is surely no. There is far too much of the past in the present for it ever to become uncontentious. But I do think that it is both possible and very important to fight against the falsification of the past.

Read more:
Winnie and Nelson: new book paints a deeply human portrait of the Mandela marriage and South Africa’s struggle

There’s a big difference between mythologisation and falsification. The former is about fashioning the facts of the past to tell a value-laden story, which is fine. The latter is to make up facts about the past, which is truly scary.

When people say that Winnie didn’t hurt anyone in the late 1980s, that it was all fabricated by a shadowy enemy, they are doing harm. Similarly, when people say that Nelson did not beat his first wife, Evelyn Mase, when there is plain evidence that he did, they are doing harm. It is possible both to mythologise the past and to be brave enough to confront what actually happened there. Läs mer…