Scottish government drops proposed partnership with charity after backlash from violence against women sector

The Scottish government’s strategy to support women working in the sex industry has been cast into disarray after it was forced to ditch a proposed partnership with a charity whose founder has suggested most sex workers have had exposure to “occult” activities, citing yoga as one example.

The Scottish government abandoned plans to partner with the Luton-based Christian charity Azalea, which offers “practical, emotional and spiritual support to women sexually exploited through prostitution”, after a backlash from the violence against women sector.

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A fresh and feminist study of the pioneering Nobel laureate reveals her impact on the women she mentored and set on the path to prominence

Marie Curie carried out some of her most pathbreaking work under an actual glass ceiling and the toxic particles that swirled beneath it eventually killed her. What Dava Sobel wants to convey to us in this unabashedly feminist account of the great woman’s life is that the metaphorical glass ceiling was just as toxic to the society over which it was clamped.

Each occasion the two-time Nobel laureate had a new advance to announce to the world, she had to beg a male colleague to present it to France’s scientific academy, which barred women from its ranks. This iron-clad rule outlived Curie, hobbling her daughter Irène – another Nobel laureate – in her turn, and by the time a woman was finally granted full membership, in 1979, not only were both Marie and Irène more famous than most of the men who had blocked them, but that first female member gave her affiliation as the “Pierre and Marie Curie University”, Paris.

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The ‘theme’ chosen for Cop29 must be some kind of dark joke. This summit, like those before it, is a mere act of greenwashing

During rapidly escalating climate and humanitarian crises, another authoritarian petrostate with no respect for human rights is hosting Cop29 – the UN’s latest annual climate summit that starts today and is being held after the re-election of a climate-denier US president .

Cop meetings have proven to be greenwashing conferences that legitimise countries’ failures to ensure a livable world and future and have also allowed authoritarian regimes like Azerbaijan and the two previous hosts – the United Arab Emirates and Egypt – to continue violating human rights.

Greta Thunberg is a Swedish activist and international climate crisis campaigner

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The Urdaibai Bird Center, near Bilbao, is a haven for migrating ospreys and herons, but the city’s famous museum is ruffling its feathers

The Urdaibai Bird Center has been cutely styled like an international airport terminal, with multilingual boards marked Arrivals and Departures, and a raised observation platform resembling an air traffic control tower. Through a roof-mounted telescope I watch various avian species landing or taking off from little floating archipelagos on the adjoining lagoon.

I am not a birder so I don’t know what they’re called, though I do recognise the (grey) heron by its pterodactyl flight profile.

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Nikolay Stefanov’s documentary, which follows fans of FC Minyor Pernik, reveals much about what is behind this toxic masculinity

In the Bulgarian mining town of Pernik, a weekend football match is not for the faint of heart. Dressed in the black and yellow team colours, dozens of FC Minyor Pernik fans descend on the home pitch, the “Stadium of Peace”. The nickname is an ironic one. Staying close to its subjects, the camera shakes and bounces alongside the aggressive football fans as they hurl racist, homophobic, and misogynistic abuse at their team’s opponents. A restless and threatening energy thrums through each swaying body, as the men jump up and down in the aisles, even throwing themselves against the protective fences.

Much of Nikolay Stefanov’s documentary places us uncomfortably close to these kind of scenes, conjuring a striking tableau of football hooliganism, toxic masculinity, and economic angst. Among this group of frustrated men, the film focuses on Tsetso, a middle-aged working-class man whose personal story provides some clues to their lifestyle. Like the other skinheads he calls friends, Tsetso also has tattoos of Nazi symbols; a bout with pneumonia, however, leaves him in a more retrospective mood, during which he reveals how his beliefs are influenced by the abuse and racism exhibited by his father.

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Jane Swayne was devastated when her children’s charity lost its funding. But she found another path and passion – and became a professional chocolatier

At 62, Jane Swayne ate a chocolate that would change her life. On a visit to see her daughter, who was working in The Hague in 2013, the Somerset-based charity worker decided to buy a box of chocolates to bring home as a present for her husband. “I found a chocolatier who made these amazing sea salt and tarragon chocolates,” she says. “I ate one and realised I hadn’t tried anything like it before. I never liked chocolate as a child but this was miraculous. I decided I had to try to recreate them when I got home – one box wouldn’t be enough.”

Swayne’s husband, John, was equally enthusiastic and encouraged her. “I’ve always loved cooking but I had never tried making chocolate before,” she says. “I realised it’s a very labour-intensive process but ultimately quite simple, mainly relying on the use of fresh herbs like the tarragon. After a few tries, I had a decent version of my own.”

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Cop29 finally gets under way in Baku; will nations be able to push for greater progress or will the negotiations stall?

Here are some pictures of how things are looking in Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, which has been set up in full summit mode.

WHAT IS COP29 IN AZERBAIJAN AND DOES IT MATTER?

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The Penguin ends on a particularly grisly note. Plus: how did immigration take over UK politics? Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, Sky Atlantic

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Campaigners call for end of ‘robo-caseworkers’ amid fears officials will bow to automated enforcement proposals

A Home Office artificial intelligence tool which proposes enforcement action against adult and child migrants could make it too easy for officials to rubberstamp automated life-changing decisions, campaigners have said.

As new details of the AI-powered immigration enforcement system emerged, critics called it a “robo-caseworker” that could “encode injustices” because an algorithm is involved in shaping decisions, including returning people to their home countries.

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