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Across much of the United States, spring is in full force. With warmer weather, people are taking their furry family members out on longer walks and spending more time outside. Alongside blooming flowers and trees, your pet might run into a small, unassuming grass seed pod known as a foxtail. Despite the cute name, foxtails can pose a major threat to your pet’s health.

I am a veterinarian in California’s Central Valley, and foxtails are a daily issue where I work, especially during the spring and summer months.

What exactly are foxtails?

Hordeum murinum, or wall barley, is a common source of foxtails.
Curtis Clark/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

A foxtail isn’t a specific plant. It is a type of grass seed pod that resembles a fox’s tail. Multiple species of grass can create this type of seed pod, and foxtails are found across much of the United States. Regions of the western U.S., especially California, have the most foxtails.

The outside of the foxtail is covered in small sticky hairs designed to stick to things. You can feel them yourself if you pull a foxtail off a plant. Rub your fingers against the seed one way, and then the other, and you’ll feel that one direction is smooth and the other direction is sticky.

Foxtails aren’t a big deal for people, as we don’t have a lot of hair and tend to remove things that are itchy or painful, but it’s a different story for pets.

A segment of the foxtail pod sticks to an animal’s fur, where it’s carried around until it eventually drops off and grows into grass. This sticky feature is great for the grass, as it helps spread the seeds around, but it also results in foxtail segments getting stuck to pets.

Once on the cat or dog, a segment of a foxtail can burrow into the skin, get stuck in the eyes, creep into ears, be inhaled into the nose, or even make its way into the lungs.

The health dangers of foxtails

The most common place where foxtails will burrow into a pet is the skin, especially in between dogs’ toes. A foxtail embedded into the skin can cause irritation, redness, pain and infection. As the foxtail gets deeper into the skin, it brings harmful bacteria with it and creates a path of infection known as a draining tract.

If a foxtail makes it into a dog’s or a cat’s ear, the pet will likely start shaking its head back and forth – it might look like it has an ear infection. The embedded foxtail can cause discomfort and sometimes infection.

A foxtail can stick to a pet’s eye tissues, especially in cats, and migrate around the outer portions of the eye or behind the third eyelid, which is the protective tissue near the inner corner of their eye. This will cause discharge from the eye and discomfort and may scratch the eye’s surface.

One of the most serious locations for a foxtail is in the lungs. Dogs may inhale foxtails while running through fields and breathing hard. The foxtail can sometimes get stuck in the nose, which will cause the pet to sneeze and look uncomfortable. Occasionally, a piece of a foxtail makes its way into the lungs, which can result in severe infection, trauma and even death. Surgery and hospitalization are almost always required in these cases.

Foxtail symptoms

Pet owners can learn what symptoms to look out for in order to make sure their pet gets prompt care if they end up with a foxtail embedded somewhere.

If you see your dog or cat chewing on their paws, this might indicate that a foxtail has ended up in between the toes. Their paws may swell or grow red. If you see even a small pimplelike swelling in between your pet’s toes, they may have a foxtail stuck in their paw.

Foxtails can get into a pet’s nose, ears, eyes, lungs and more.

If your pet is frequently shaking its head, this can indicate that a foxtail made its way into the ear canal. Drainage or discharge from the eye can indicate that foxtail may have made its way around the eye. Sneezing or pawing at the nose can mean the foxtail may have made its way into the nose. Foxtails in the ear canal, eyes or nose will need to be removed by a veterinarian.

Coughing or hacking might mean a foxtail has made it to the tissues around the throat or the tonsils, or even deeper into the lungs. Each one of these symptoms requires care from a veterinarian, as they can grow serious if left untreated.

Preventing foxtail risks

Foxtails are everywhere in the environment, but there are some preventive steps pet owners can take to minimize the risks to their pets.

If you have foxtails in your yard, you can remove them. Sometimes you can get rid of foxtails permanently, but this isn’t always easy, as grasses are particularly good at reproducing and growing quickly.

Some locations have very few foxtails, while others have lots. Bring your pet to areas with fewer foxtails, if possible.

Some companies make mesh nets that can cover a dog’s head to prevent exposure to the ears, nose, eyes and mouth. Pet boots can prevent foxtails from getting stuck in their paws.

Dog booties can keep your pet’s feet safe when you’re in a foxtail-dense area.
AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd

Grooming your pet regularly may help catch foxtails before they burrow into the skin. Removing mats and unkempt fur can also help reduce the risk. If you get your pet examined at the vet at least once a year, the veterinarian may be able to find foxtails during these checkups before they escalate into a larger problem.

Foxtails are part of living in the United States. But a few simple steps can help keep pets safe while they enjoy the outdoors. Läs mer…

Every so often, a cause ignites a sustained fury on college campuses across the nation. In 2020, it was Black Lives Matter. In 2011, it was Occupy Wall Street. In the 1980s, it was apartheid in South Africa. Right now, it’s the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

Since college protests tend to draw comparisons to the 1960s, it’s helpful to know more about that heritage. Here are five books about the history of campus demonstrations:

‘America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s’

Oxford University Press

This primer on the politics and history of the 1960s recounts the Cuban missile crisis and moves through the many events that led to and fueled student activism, including the Vietnam War and key moments in the Civil Rights Movement.

Published in 1999 and now in its fifth edition, it is co-written by Hamilton College history professor Maurice Isserman, who studies leftist movements, and Michael Kazin, a Georgetown University expert on U.S. politics and social movements in the 19th and 20th centuries.

‘Harlem vs. Columbia University: Black Student Power in the Late 1960s’

University of Illinois Press

Given how prominent the Columbia demonstrations have been this year, it’s worth delving into the impact of a historically white, male bastion like the Ivy League school that abuts New York’s Harlem.

Stefan M. Bradley’s 2009 history focuses on the intertwined rises of Black and student power in response to Columbia’s attempt to build a largely segregated gymnasium in the small green park that separates it from Harlem.

‘Freedom’s Orator: Mario Savio and the Radical Legacy of the 1960s’

Oxford University Press

It took until 2009 for someone to write a definitive biography of Savio, a visionary who sensed how campus protests could change America.

But New York University historian Robert Cohen’s 544-page tome, based on personal papers, recordings of speeches and countless interviews, brings to life accomplishments of a major leader of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. His “Bodies Upon the Gears” speech in 1964 could easily be adopted as the mantra of today’s pro-Palestinian movement.

‘The New Student Activists: The Rise of Neoactivism on College Campuses’

Johns Hopkins University Press

Months before the murder of George Floyd sparked BLM protests and years before Hamas attacked Israel, Villanova education professor Jerusha O. Conner published her examination of how 1960s-style activism had returned to college campuses.

Still, her examination of the current generation of student activists helps explain why they’ve been so effective at drawing attention and making change. Among other misconceptions, she debunks the myth that student activists today are fragile “snowflakes” operating from a sense of entitlement.

‘The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today’

University of Chicago Press

For a more contemporary look at student activism, pick up this slim volume by Johns Hopkins sociologist Amy J. Binder and Northern Illinois University sociologist Jeffrey L. Kidder that analyzes how the well-funded national conservative movement is building its own army of campus activists to remarkable effect.

The authors argue that voices from the left and the right are being “channeled into two distinct forms of mobilization and why that has profound consequences for the future of American politics.” Läs mer…

Coming soon after the release of the Netflix version of One Day, David Nicholls’ latest novel is another bitter-sweet homage to skewed romance. While the lovers in One Day are divided by class and aspiration, in You Are Here it’s loneliness and previous heartbreak that get in the way.

Marnie, a struggling freelance copywriter, is not at first impressed by Michael, a grumpy geography teacher. She is a Londoner, living alone in a Herne Hill apartment; he lives in York, in the house that is a shell without his recently departed wife Natasha. Their bossy mutual friend Cleo, a deputy head teacher, organises a walking holiday on which she hopes to set them up with suitable people. These potential liaisons fail to materialise, so Marnie and Michael are thrown together.

Nicholls has an unerring ability to tap into the emotional zeitgeist, the competitiveness that fuels class unease (Starter for Ten), midlife marriage uncertainty (Us) and in this case, the sense of estrangement from community that has followed the pandemic. While Michael has the school, with its physical routines, lockdown has never really ended for Marnie.

Working from home, she has no need for human interaction and sometimes feels that she is better off without it, “she no longer trusted her face to do the right thing, operating it manually, pulling levers, turning dials, for fear that she might laugh at someone’s tragedy or grimace at their joke”. So she cancels meet-ups, friendships falter. For his part, Michael fears that he is doomed to become increasingly solitary, and “he wondered if, after a certain age, men could ever really like each other. The window for friendship was always small, and narrowed with age”.

Both sense they are looking into a void, the means to connect evading them. Michael feels “cracked and vulnerable, like a cup with a glued-on handle”. He attempts to impose logic and rationality onto heartbreak, planning to walk from one side of northern England to the other in record time. His aim is to exchange loneliness for solitude.

Marnie agrees to join against her better judgment, recognising that she needs some kind of change. Initially, they seem mismatched, he is “like someone leading a doomed expedition”, while she, dressed in new outdoor wear, is well beyond her comfort zone.

Sceptre

The novel is told in short chapters, alternating between Marnie and Michael’s point of view. Their hopes, dreams, fears and recollections are conveyed with subtle humour, and the reader quickly sees that loneliness is not the only thing they have in common.

Both have a deep longing for a true romance, not just dating or a sexual encounter, but the sort of relationship that makes sense of the world. The mood is reminiscent of Jane Austen’s final novel Persuasion, with its weight of missed opportunities and lost time.

And the action plays out against a brilliantly evoked landscape: the fells and lakes of northern England. This is one of the great pleasures of the book, and the maps of the route that punctuate the text highlight the importance of the journey.

Michael, the committed geography teacher, has an affinity with the landscape, solid and evolving over millions of years. But things are changing rather faster for him, despite his dogged reluctance to move on. The ever-shifting weather and conditions seem to underline that, there are surprises at every turn.

He attempts some cold water swimming and the water is “silver-tinged and viscous, like gin from an ice box”. And nothing is quite what it seems “the peaks were all around them now, outlined sharply against each other, like old-fashioned theatre flats”. Nicholls doesn’t make it overly picturesque either, acknowledging “the brown noise of the A1”.

This is a novel that takes its time, as it must do if it is to keep faith with the over-arching structure of a muddy walking holiday and its attendant boring bed and breakfasts. But the story builds relentlessly to a heart-wrenching climax, perfectly orchestrated, keeping the reader guessing – and hoping – to the last. Läs mer…

The revival of UK house prices since the peak of the pandemic has now halted, with sale prices falling in April according to the Nationwide Building Society index, and rising only 0.1% on the Halifax index. While completed sale prices are still around 1% higher than a year ago, they appear to be levelling off at 4% below their previous mid-2022 peak.

But this won’t be much help for the many who are still struggling to fund their first home purchase. A Nationwide survey found that 49% of would-be first-time buyers have had to delay their plans either due to the high cost of homes or the loans they need to afford one.

In 2023, the median house price in England was 8.3 times the median annual earnings there. Although down from the record of 9.1 times earnings set in 2021, this compares with 6.9 in 2010 and just 4.2 in 2000. House prices are a smaller multiple of average earnings in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but their increases since the millennium have been comparably strong.

This “affordability ratio” is substantially worse across much of south-east England. In London, it’s 8.5 even in the lowest-cost borough, Tower Hamlets, rising to 20 in Westminster and over 30 in Kensington and Chelsea. And that’s despite this ratio using medians, the wage and house price in the middle of the distribution, to avoid distortions from very expensive properties and high incomes.

Affordability has dropped because the average house price has raced ahead of general consumer prices, while average earnings have not kept pace – in 2023, they were still 8% below their 2008 level in real terms. The reason for this drop in affordability is mainly that demand for housing has risen faster than supply in the places where most people want to live and work.

The UK needs to bring around 300,000 new homes on stream each year to accommodate a population that has grown by more than 4 million (to 67.6 million) since 2011, as well as rehousing more than 2.5 million people stuck in substandard accommodation. But this target has not been achieved since 1973-74.

UK new dwelling completions have averaged 157,000 each year since 2010. And the number of empty homes remains stubbornly above 1 million.

Affordability also depends on the cost and availability of mortgages. When house prices fall, it’s usually against a worsening economic backdrop that also features rising mortgage interest rates and tightening eligibility criteria. That’s the case now, with several big lenders raising their longer-term rates in April, passing on the steep rise in Bank of England base rates since the start of 2022. As asking prices start to fall, so is the affordability of the loans that most buyers still need in order to meet them.

Rents rising

Renting is the main alternative to buying, and the price of a house is, in principle, related to the rent it would yield if the owner let it out. But that link has recently been broken, with average rents continuing to rise strongly through 2023-24 when the sale price rise tailed off.

This is mainly due to a fall in the availability of homes for long-term rent. Some former landlords have withdrawn from the market due to tighter regulation (designed to protect tenants) and tax treatment. Others have found they can get more revenue from short lets, made easier by online booking services.

Decades of above-inflation house price increases, and unusually low mortgage rates from 2009-22, have significantly boosted the wealth of households who bought property in the 1980s and ’90s, and paid off their mortgages while interest rates were low. Many can now hand this wealth down in gifts or transferred properties, helping their children and grandchildren reach the elevated housing ladder. The “bank of mum and dad” transfers around £17 billion per year, more than half of it via housing.

But this process remains deeply unequal, as it’s a solution denied to those whose parents were unable to become owner-occupiers or had to spend their housing wealth meeting other costs.

Although all political parties express concern about high housing costs, they are wary of a price drop that would significantly dent the wealth of owner-occupiers, who are still a majority in most parts of the UK. The scale of private investment in housing means that a sustained price fall would do wider damage to the economy, through its effect on consumer confidence and household balance sheets.

The prospect of ongoing price falls and more expensive loans is likely to make households more cautious on spending, even if they avoid negative equity (where the house price sinks below the outstanding mortgage). The corresponding shrinkage of bank and building society assets would constrain their new lending, further dampening investment and consumer demand.

The desire to prevent significant house-price falls has slanted successive governments’ policies towards helping buyers to pay more, rather than supporting developers to build more. House builders blame planning restrictions for slowing their work, but new developments are increasingly held back by flood-risk concerns as well as local opposition.

Affordable housing availability has not yet recovered from the widespread sale of council housing in the 1980s and ’90s, which turned one generation of tenants into owner-occupiers but left less affordable rental space for the next.

Budget constraints on local authorities have prevented them from replacing all the sold-off council houses, forcing central government to spend more on supporting families to pay higher private rents. The current backlog of council home repairs in Hackney, the English council with the highest proportion of social renters, highlights the next government’s twin housing tasks: repairing the homes it provides directly, while bringing private-sector alternatives back within people’s reach. Läs mer…

On May 16 the world will mark the UN International Day of Living Together in Peace. It is a rallying call for people to listen respectfully to others and promote tolerance and understanding.

Perhaps someone should tell tech entrepreneurs Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. The online platforms they head up – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X – have become synonymous with fake news, hate speech, misinformation and other online harms.

Social media has been widely blamed for destabilising democracies and fomenting civil unrest in Europe and North America. In July 2023, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, proposed restricting access to online platforms in order to quell rioting.

This is a far cry from 2009, when Facebook proudly claimed it had created “friendships” between seemingly irredeemably rival groups: Sunni and Shia Muslims, Muslims and Jews, Pakistanis and Indians, Greeks and Turks, conservatives and liberals.

“Peace on Facebook” was a classic example of what social scientist Nicholas John refers to as “social media bullshit”. Such PR blurb is designed to convince the public these tech companies are a force for good. They purposefully describe themselves as “platforms” – rather than commercial entities – to emphasise how benign they are.

In reality, these companies financially benefit from every click, like, share and comment users on their platforms make. The more inflammatory the content, the more profitable it is. My research shows that such online incivility only makes it harder to promote peaceful coexistence

Social media platforms profit from their users’ attention.
Maria Teneva/Unsplash

Divisive content

There appears little chance of social media platforms taking stronger action to remove divisive content. Since tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s acquisition of the X (formerly Twitter) microblogging platform in October 2022, the guardrails designed to protect minorities have, in fact, been dismantled.

Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council was dissolved in December 2022. This move, among many other policy changes, prompted an insider to go public with their fears that the site could no longer protect users from trolling, disinformation and sexual exploitation.

Musk has reportedly described himself as a “free speech absolutist”. This is particularly problematic for those whose real job it is to promote peace in deeply divided societies.

There is already extensive evidence that online platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) have been used to spread hate speech. They have been used to incite sectarian violence, too, in countries including India and Myanmar.

In Sri Lanka, following anti-Muslim rioting in 2018, Facebook issued an apology for its role in the unrest. The company hired Article One, the human rights consultancy, to investigate what had happened. It concluded that the hate speech and misinformation that was amplified by Facebook users online “may have led” to violence offline.

Rival groups won’t find common ground in unregulated online spaces.
Alex McCarthy/Unsplash

My research shows that rumours, misinformation and disinformation have frequently been amplified by social media during contentious parades and protests in Northern Ireland. There is little evidence that such online activity inevitably leads to sectarian rioting. The indirect effects of online incivility, however, is that it makes it harder to promote reconciliation between former antagonists.

In effect, online platforms at present focus more attention on what divides rather than unites different communities.

Research shows that unsupervised intergroup contact, both on and offline, is unlikely to foster positive peace in societies that are transitioning out of conflict. Reducing prejudices against outgroups is much easier when there are rules in place to respond to content that inflames tensions between different communities. In other words, rival groups are unlikely to find common ground in unregulated online spaces where hate speech flourishes.

Clearly, frequent exposure to the online hate speech amplified by social media platforms is unlikely to aid peacebuilding. Communities who do not typically share the same physical space are unlikely to think differently about each other when they see such negative stereotypes being perpetuated online.

Social media such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) might not be the best place to promote peace. These platforms are designed to generate profit, not improve community relations.

For intergroup dialogue in contemporary societies to be effective minorities and vulnerable communities need stronger protections, not less. A public service internet, guardrails included, might be a better way to promote reconciliation in divided societies. Läs mer…

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. In Europe, almost three in every ten adults were diagnosed with a form of cancer in 2022.

With the recent revelations that three members of the royal family have cancer, many people may be thinking about their own risk of developing cancer – and wondering if there’s anything they can do to prevent the disease.

Cancer is a complex condition, with many factors that may increase a person’s risk. But research shows exercise may actually play an important role – with a growing body of evidence showing its benefit in preventing, treating and living beyond cancer.

Numerous studies have shown a link between regular physical activity and lower risk of being diagnosed with many types of cancer. In some instances, exercise is shown to lower risk of being diagnosed with many common types of cancer – including breast, endometrial, colon and stomach – by around 20%.

A 2015 meta-analysis, which looked at data from over 1.4 million participants, found the most active participants had an over 20% reduction in the risk of seven cancers (including liver, kidney and lung cancer) when compared to those who were the least active. They also had between a 10% and 20% lower risk of colon, bladder, head, neck and breast cancers. This effect remained the same, even after the researchers adjusted for body mass index, which is also associated with greater risk of cancer. This shows that the more active you are, the lower your overall risk of cancer.

There are several possible mechanisms by which exercise is thought to reduce cancer risk. Regular exercise deeply affects many aspects of the body’s metabolism. For instance, it influences the behaviour and concentration of certain hormones – such as insulin and oestrogen, which have been linked with colon, breast, pancreatic, prostate and endometrial cancers.

Exercise also improves cellular function, encouraging cell repair – and, when not possible, destruction. This is important, as cancer starts when these damaged cells cannot be destroyed or repaired. It also reduces chronic inflammation, which is linked with risk of all cancers, as well as other chronic diseases – including cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Exercise also helps prevent and reduce obesity. This on its own lowers the risk of developing at least 13 types of cancer, including breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancer.

Of course, cancer is caused by many factors so there is no one simple defence against it. But based on the evidence we have, there’s clear benefit in being more active.

From diagnosis to survival

Exercise is also shown to be beneficial during and after cancer treatment. For example, research in patients diagnosed with lung cancer found doing exercise before surgery actually had lasting benefits during recovery.

Researchers gathered patients diagnosed with lung cancer, who were due to undergo surgery to have part of their lung removed. As you can imagine, this surgery has a serious affect on a person’s life. During the recovery period, patients may struggle with normal, everyday tasks – such as washing up and walking around.

Patients were divided into two groups. One group performed different types of exercise (aerobic, resistance and breathing exercises) three to five times a week. The other group (the control group) performed no exercise. After four weeks, the exercise group was obviously fitter. But most important was that three months after surgery, the exercise group had remained fitter and stronger compared to the control group. This meant they were better able to perform their usual daily activities.

This research suggests that exercise prepared them better for surgery, which subsequently meant a shorter journey to full recovery.

Exercise can also help manage some of the side-effects of cancer treatment – particularly the debilitating fatigue around 90% of patients experience. Though it might sound counter-intuitive, evidence tells us that the more active you are throughout treatment, the less fatigue you’ll experience.

One study which looked at the effect of exercise on 80 breast cancer survivors found that participants who exercised three times a week for two months had significantly lower levels of fatigue. This effect persisted even six months after they stopped training.

A meta-analysis of 113 studies also showed that exercise was more effective in reducing treatmented-related fatigue than pharmaceuticals were.

Research on breast cancer patients even suggests exercise could improve chemotherapy completion rates. This could improve treatment outcomes and lead to higher survival rates. However, not all studies in this area have had these results. As such, it will be important for more research to be done to better understand the relationship between exercise and chemo completion rates.

Regular physical activity could also reduce cancer recurrence by as much as 30%, especially for bowel and breast cancer.

The mechanisms that are thought to help reduce cancer risk are very similar to those that help during recovery – including improved immunity, better circulation, reprogramming the metabolism and improving body composition by retaining muscle and diminishing fat.

How active should you be?

Of course, not everything has been figured out yet. The majority of evidence comes from observational studies which means we can only show a link between exercise and the benefits it has. We desperately need more patients to participate in randomised clinical trials so we can definitively establish what the beneficial effects are. This is something my colleagues and I are currently researching at the University of Hull.

Still, it’s clear that exercise is extremely beneficial for preventing cancer – and that it’s safe and helpful for people during and after cancer treatment.

To get these benefits, it’s recommended for people exercise for at least 75-150 minutes of moderate and vigorous activities per week. Doing 30 minutes of exercise five days a week is ideal.

Do a mix of aerobic exercises (such as swimming walking or cycling) and around two to three sessions of resistance training (such as weight lifting or pilates). These guidelines are similar for people living with or beyond cancer.

However, even if you can’t exercise this much, don’t be disheartened. A little physical activity is better than nothing. Läs mer…

As global temperatures continue to rise, the ramifications of climate change – from more frequent and severe extreme weather events to rising sea levels and ecosystem disruptions – are becoming increasingly evident around the world. But their effects are not evenly distributed, often hitting vulnerable communities the hardest.

In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to Katherine Browne, a research fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute, and Margaret Angula, a senior lecturer at the University of Namibia, about a UN pilot programme in Namibia that’s trialling a new approach to financing climate adaptation. The project aims to empower local communities by putting decision-making and funding directly into their hands, allowing them to build resilience to climate change.

Climate adaptation describes the process of adjusting to the impacts of climate change to minimise risks and take advantage of new opportunities. It is a crucial aspect of addressing the climate crisis, especially for communities that are already facing significant challenges.

One of the world’s biggest mechanisms for financing climate adaptation projects is the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF). However, challenges such as limited funding and unequal distribution have so far hindered the effectiveness of climate finance like this, underscoring the need for more decentralised funding models. As Browne explains:

There’s a recognition that the money the UN has been providing is not reaching the communities that need it most – so-called frontline communities.

She’s been analysing an ongoing US$200m GCF pilot programme that’s trying to combat this by involving local communities directly in the way the projects are designed and run. The objective is to ensure that resources reach the communities that are most hit, and reflect their local priorities. Namibia, one of the countries most vulnerable to rising temperatures, is among the countries to have received funding through this pilot programme.

Angula, who is working with Browne to assess how equitably this climate finance is being distributed to communities across Namibia, emphasises the importance of community-led adaptation efforts. Examples from Namibia illustrate the diverse ways in which communities are using the funding to adapt to climate change: from drilling solar-powered borehole pumps for water access to investing in firefighting equipment to prevent the spread of wildfires. According to Angula:

[The programme] worked well for communities that have a level of awareness and knew what they were doing. The community came up with a project idea and how the money was spent.

Browne thinks community-led adaptation programmes like these show “a lot of promise”, but admits there are limits to the amount of funding that can be distributed through these models. “It shouldn’t be the whole approach,” she says, “but I think it will grow to be a bigger part of the approach.”

Listen to Browne and Angula on The Conversation Weekly podcast, which also features an introduction from Kofo Belo-Osagie, commissioning editor at The Conversation in Nigeria.

A transcript of this episode will be available shortly.

This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written by Mend Mariwany and Katie Flood. Gemma Ware is the executive producer. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Stephen Khan is our global executive editor, Alice Mason runs our social media, and Soraya Nandy does our transcripts.

You can find us on Instagram at theconversationdotcom or via email. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s free daily email here.

Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed, or find out how else to listen here. Läs mer…

Many people who follow federal budgets know about the magnificent “budget tree” in a parliamentary courtyard, which turns a glorious red in time for the May event.

This week Treasurer Jim Chalmers posed by the tree for pre-budget photos. As the snappers looked for a new take on an old favourite shot, Chalmers kicked the leaves. The treasurer has an eye for angles; he understands the importance of presentation and narrative as well as content.

The budget tree has its own narrative; those in Parliament House have once again watched as the tree’s changes signal the coming date. In these weeks, and indeed in the months before, Chalmers has been weaving his budget story.

Over this time, as international and Australian economic conditions have altered, so have some aspects of his preparatory narrative. No matter: when necessary he starts a fresh chapter. On the whole, Chalmers is a “no surprises” politician – his approach is to prepare the public for what’s on the cards.

As is the modern way, the government is putting out to the media ahead of time figures and announcements from the budget, in embargoed “drops”. That way, these get a clear run in the morning media, ahead of comments and criticisms from pesky stakeholders or sceptical experts. Maximum control has been achieved over the government’s pre-budget publicity. There are few genuine “leaks” of measures these days.

Among the “drops”, we’ve seen the change to the HELP indexation of student debt, and a new payment for students on teaching, nursing and social work placements. Also “dropped” has been the smaller-than-before revenue upgrade that will be in the budget. That came with Chalmers’ warning not to expect a cash splash.

Lukas Coch/AAP

Once we get to Tuesday night, things will be harder for the treasurer to control. He will hope his narrative holds, but critics will spring up from all directions, especially with a budget like this year’s, which has to juggle sharply different demands in difficult circumstances.

Chalmers referred this week to charting “a responsible middle course between those who want us to slash and burn in the budget and those who think that it should be some kind of free-for-all of spending”.

The hardliners in the media will thunder it’s all too loose, with excessive spending and not enough of the revenue windfalls banked. The welfare lobby has the government’s own Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee’s total wish list to refer to, which inevitably the government isn’t able to fulfil.

Chalmers has already told us that, in the short term, the budget – which delivers Labor’s second consecutive surplus – will emphasise the continuing fight against inflation. In the longer term, the emphasis will switch to promoting growth.

Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock said this week: “Jim Chalmers says publicly, and he says to me in private, that he does have inflation in his mind while he is thinking about the budget”.

In a clear and repeated message, Bullock also warned: “We don’t think we [the bank] necessarily have to tighten [rates] again. But we can’t rule it out. If we have to, we will.”

Politically, the government needs an interest rate cut before the election, due in a year. A rise would be a political disaster.

With the inflation dragon wounded but not slain and a rate cut (the most likely next move) already pushed out months, budget spending has to be restrained. But at the same time, extra spending on cost-of-living relief is required, beyond the expensive (rejigged) income tax cuts.

We can expect there’ll be targeted help on energy costs and rental assistance, among other things. Apart from the cost-of-living relief they bring, the energy and rental measures have a second benefit: in the immediate term they subtract from, rather than add to, inflation.

Households squeezed by living costs, however, and eyeing that short term surplus, may see various budget measures as not coming their way or as inadequate. Of course all taxpayers will get a tax cut, but one problem is people have factored that in (even though it doesn’t come until July 1).

Chalmers is caught between “back-end loading” some of the budget’s new spending while trying to minimise the structural challenges in the later years, when the budget is already under pressure from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the costs of an ageing population and the defence program.

The budget tree has long been used to illustrate budgets and how treasurers go about preparing for them.
Wes Mountain, CC BY-NC

A centrepiece of the budget will be the government’s controversial Future Made in Australia interventionist policy. We won’t see the umbrella legislation for this, but there will be more details about its framework. Importantly, the budget will contain tax incentives as part of the government’s effort to attract investment from overseas.

Observers will be focused on what more is said about the guardrails around Future Made in Australia, which has seen (among other initiatives) $1 billion committed to the manufacture of solar panels, which critics argue would be much better imported. We’d also expect information about the parts of the program that will be on and off budget, and about the economic rationale for the government incentivising private investment in particular sectors.

To some eyes, Future Made in Australia has a blokey feel about it – because of the nature of the projects – when the government is very sensitive to gender issues.

This sensitivity has been heightened by the recent publicity around the domestic violence crisis. More generally, the government is very attuned, in political terms, to women. In high-profile appointments, it has made clear its active search for women candidates. It has to take into account in the budget that many female voters will have even more of a gender lens on it than usual.

This is only Chalmers’ third budget but he’s been around for a lot more: as a staffer he worked on five of former treasurer Wayne Swan’s six budgets. Treasurers receive a leather-bound book of their budget papers. When Swan retired, he gave Chalmers the copy of his second budget book (2009-2010). The accompanying inscription read: “When challenges arise in your future ministerial service keep this Hansard nearby as a reminder of the cause we represent and the people we serve”.

Chalmers has fulfilled Swan’s prediction of a ministerial career. And many are presently rating him as the government’s best performer. All that attention to detail counts. But each budget presents a fresh test over the latest hurdles. And, of course, opportunities to kick some new goals. Läs mer…

There were early warnings that Kenya’s long rain season – between March and May – was going to bring above-normal rainfall. The extreme intensity of the rain has resulted in devastating floods in many parts of the country. Forty of the country’s 47 counties have been affected. More than 230 people have died and about 40,000 households, so far, have been displaced.

Poor maintenance of key infrastructure and drainage systems, and disregard of environmental regulations regarding maintenance of land near rivers, contributed to the situation.

The government has responded with measures to minimise destruction and safeguard lives. These include ordering the evacuation of households living close to dams and water reservoirs in 33 counties, and forced evictions of those living near rivers. President William Ruto has also announced welfare support for displaced households.

The effects of the flooding will have a massive impact on Kenya’s economy. I’m a development economist with 20 years of experience in the field of development planning, policy implementation and research. I’ve also worked with the National Treasury and Economic Planning.

I’m particularly concerned about these things: damage done to transport infrastructure, which will affect the prices for goods and services; destruction of crops, which will affect food security; and business losses, which will affect household incomes and consumer purchasing power.

The cost of repairing what’s broken will also have a major impact on the country’s budget, which is already stretched.

The impacts

Infrastructure destroyed

A great deal of infrastructure has been affected.

Besides roads, some dams, airports and water infrastructure will require maintenance.

Floods and a landslide on the railway route between the capital Nairobi and Mombasa forced Kenya Railways to close all cargo services. Nairobi satellite commuter train services were also suspended.

Currently, 58 roads have been reported destroyed. Some of these roads are key highways, such as the Kapenguria-Lokichar-Lodwar highway, Nakuru-Eldoret road and Oletepesi-Magadi road. The Nakuru-Eldoret road also connects Uganda, Rwanda and Congo.

The road disruptions will immediately raise the cost of transport as goods will go via longer routes. This will have an effect on businesses in the transport, wholesale and retail sectors.

The rains have also affected service infrastructure – like water pipelines in Nairobi – and filled dams to capacity. In one tragic incident, a dam in Kijabe burst its banks, flooding villages and killing at least 40 people in the Mai Mahiu area.

The destruction of infrastructure will have a major economic impact. Assessments from the last major flooding in 2018 show that the government had to allocate an extra US$120 million (24% of the budget in the previous year) for repairs and maintenance of road infrastructure.

The repairs weren’t immediate and sometimes weren’t carried out at all. The effects were felt for years.

A destroyed railway line following floods.
Photo by James Wakibia/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Cropland destroyed

Kenya’s agriculture sector has also been hit hard. Agriculture is vital to the economy, accounting for about 33% of the country’s GDP and employing 40% of the total workforce. It’s a critical source of livelihood and income for millions of Kenyans.

About 40,000 acres (16,187 hectares) of cropland has already been reported to have been destroyed. In the 2018 floods, it was estimated that about 21,000 acres of crops were destroyed and that was a threat to food security. The impact of the floods on Kenya’s agriculture was substantial, with estimates suggesting billions of Kenyan shillings in crop damage and lost production. Additionally, the floods triggered landslides and soil erosion.

This time, twice as much land is affected. Farmers in affected areas face a total crop failure, their entire livelihoods washed away. The flooding of 2,000 acres of the Mwea Irrigation Scheme, for instance, is likely to result in losses to the tune of KSh60 million (about US$445,000) in lost crop. This doesn’t include the loss to businesses that would have used the crop.

A farmer observes maize crop destroyed by floods at his farm in Rongai, Nakuru County.
Photo by James Wakibia/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

So far, the basket regions – where most of the staple food production takes place – have been spared the worst of the flooding. However, there is a very high likelihood of perishable crops such as vegetables and pulses recording very low yields. They have shorter maturity and may have been waterlogged or swept away.

The effect on food security will likely be felt much longer. Though Kenya has yet to estimate the effect of the flooding on food production, in Tanzania – which exports food to Kenya – there are estimates that the floods will cause a 30% decline in production this year. Food prices will likely stay high.

Cost to the purse

Kenya’s economy is still recovering from shocks that include high debt distress, global food inflation and exchange rate shock.

Read more:
Kenya’s shilling is regaining value, but don’t expect it to last – expert

The budget estimates for the next financial year reveal that the government has a delicate balancing act in trying to meet commitments as well as stimulating key sectors of the economy.

To cater for emergency response to the flooding situation, the government has forwarded a supplementary budget of Ksh11 billion (about US$80 million) to the National Assembly for approval. This will likely all be spent to provide direct support to households, resettle displaced households and reconstruct infrastructure such as schools and health facilities.

The government is already struggling to meet revenue targets due to a slowdown in economic performance. The total reconstruction will cost much more, and will divert resources from other sectors.

Better preparation

Overall, the current flooding will have long-term effects on the economy. The turnaround depends on the choices that policymakers make. A balance has to be maintained between reconstruction efforts and support to productive sectors of the economy, while offering support to those that have been affected.

There is a need to learn from the current disaster to prepare better for the next climate shock.

First, the disaster response of county governments must be strengthened. For instance, storm water drainage – blamed for much of the flooding in urban areas – is a county government function.

Read more:
Kenya’s devastating floods expose decades of poor urban planning and bad land management

Second, there is a need for better coordination between government and non-state actors to ensure more efficient use of resources to support affected households.

Third, with climate shocks becoming more frequent, there is a need to invest in better weather prediction and early warning systems. Then there must be immediate action on the recommendations from these systems, including training for households in areas prone to disasters.

Fourth, better planning in urban settlements is needed. This includes proper maintenance of roads, bridges and drainage infrastructure, adherence to building codes and standards and environmental regulations – such as protection of riparian lands.

Finally, investing in generating and creating access to data can help to inform responses and improve planning for reconstruction after disasters. Läs mer…

A public policy works well if it’s a good policy and if it’s carried out well. Politicians make policy and specialist bureaucrats in the public service carry it out. These appointed officials are supposed to follow a strict professional and ethical code of conduct.

Over the past 30 years, South Africa has not had this kind of public service. Public servants have not been able to put into practice the policies designed to end poverty, inequality and unemployment.

My research has centred on the intersection between bureaucracy, democracy and development in Africa under the conceptual banner of the developmental state. A developmental state is typically that in which the state plays a dominant role in driving rapid economic growth and development to improve the welfare of the population.

I have also examined South Africa’s efforts at constructing a developmental state in the aftermath of COVID-19, and developmental local government. Sadly, this review shows that the country’s public service is largely dysfunctional.

A change in political leadership would make little difference to development without a major reform of the public service.

Read more:
South Africans are revolting against inept local government. Why it matters

In my view the public service has failed to uphold the values and principles governing its operations as outlined in the constitution. It has not done what section 195 of the constitution requires:

maintain professional ethics
use resources in an economically efficient way
operate in an impartial and equitable manner
adopt a development-oriented vision and approach
strive for inclusivity, accountability and transparency.

Failure to maintain a standard of professional ethics

South Africa’s public service has failed to perform ethically in its public duties and its internal operations.

This shows in the high prevalence of corruption – bribery, embezzlement, fraud and conflict of interest. Citizens are all too familiar with the term “state capture”, referring to entrenched corruption in the public sector.

The 2018 judicial commission that probed corruption in the public sector found evidence of

a network of persons outside and inside government acting illegally and unethically in furtherance of state capture.

Some ordinary bureaucrats such as traffic and police officials are corrupt too. This contributes to lawlessness, disorder and crime.

Failure to use resources in an economically efficient way

Maladministration, typically the mismanagement of public resources, has been a growing concern. The state capture commission (also called the Zondo commission) found that

the primary way that money has been extracted from state institutions has been through procurement.

Public procurement abuses were most rife among state-owned enterprises such as the power utility Eskom, the transport parastatal Transnet and South Africa’s largest manufacturer of defence equipment, Denel.

State money and resources have also been squandered through unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful spending. This is often often a result of

inadequate skills and capacity
governance failures
lack of accountability and consequence management
poor financial management
inadequate financial controls.

According to the auditor-general, unauthorised expenditure by national and provincial government departments totalled R4.59 billion (US$247 million) in the 2022-2023 financial year. Irregular expenditure was R63.37 billion (US$3.38 billion). The relevant accounting officers and authorities manage an estimated collective expenditure budget of R3.10 trillion (US$167 billion).

Failure to operate impartially and equitably

The public service has failed to remain politically neutral. Civil servants should be impartial and objective, and act in the best interest of the public. Section 197 of the constitution says that

no employee of the public service may be favoured or prejudiced only because that person supports a particular political party or cause.

The governing African National Congress’s policy of cadre deployment has brought politics into the public service.

The policy involves placing party loyalists in prominent positions in the civil service. It thwarts the building of an impartial and independent public service.

The Zondo commission found that cadre deployment contravened the Public Service Act.

Read more:
South Africa’s ruling party has favoured loyalty over competence – now cadre deployment has come back to bite it

Senior public servants have been appointed because of their loyalty to the party rather than merit and technical competence. Consequently, unqualified and incompetent personnel can be found at the highest level of management.

In 2021, 35% of senior managers did not have the requisite qualifications for their positions.

Failure to adopt a development-oriented vision and approach

For an aspiring developmental state such as South Africa, success lies in providing basic public goods and services. Access to housing, infrastructure, healthcare and education is vital to create an environment for inclusive economic growth.

The state is struggling to provide these basic goods and services. For example, every South African has been affected (directly or indirectly) by power outages since 2007. Many rural communities still do not have access to water and sanitation systems, a basic human right.

Read more:
South Africa has a plan to make its public service professional. It’s time to act on it

Growing discontent can be seen in the high number of service delivery protests. There were about 3,000 between 2004 and 2019, rising to 2,455 from July to September 2022.

A 2023 survey by Afrobarometer, the independent pan-African survey network, found that only 28% of respondents were satisfied with the provision of water and sanitation. Only 12% were satisfied with access to reliable electricity and 11% with government’s efforts at reducing crime.

Strive for inclusivity, accountability and transparency

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has sought to become an inclusive, accountable and transparent state.

To this end, the government has created ways to include citizens in its governance processes and in holding officials accountable. These include public hearings, public access to parliamentary portfolio committee meetings and local government development planning processes, and ward committees.

But the politicisation of the public service has made it more challenging to promote public accountability and transparency. Policies such as cadre deployment have eroded the integrity of the public service by blurring the lines and responsibilities between (elected) politicians and (appointed) public servants. It becomes difficult to know where to assign the blame for service delivery failures, maladministration and corruption.

Looking forward

The government appears to be finally taking the idea of a professional public service more seriously. In 2022, it published a framework for the professionalisation of the public sector which

aims to build a state that better serves our people, that is insulated from undue political interference and where appointments are made based on merit.

The policy seeks to ensure that the public service is staffed by “professional, skilled, selfless, and honest” civil servants who are committed to upholding the values enshrined in the constitution. It remains to be seen whether this can be achieved while the ruling party ANC remains committed to cadre deployment.

With general elections on 29 May, it is important to note that new political leadership would not necessarily bring about instant change in people’s socioeconomic conditions.

Not when the public service is dysfunctional. This is true not only at the national level, but, more importantly, at the local government level, which has the task of delivering basic services to the poorest of the poor. Läs mer…