Lauren Dobson-Hughes

Look, I know all the reasons we got here, but we really need to start seriously thinking about what we do in a world where The Markets punish whole countries for voting for decency, compassion, and fairness. We must stop pretending the capitalist machine is an objective, value neutral force.

Read bell hooks, question the confines of masculinity, and start telling the men in your life you love them A recipe for happiness www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

At first, the late UAE candidate looked like a US-Russia backed effort Now it looks more like she's actually the compromise candidate backed by the rest of the P5, to prevent Orban's candidacy promoted by the US and Russia

New substack: I wrote about what it means when a Carney government minister starts using words like abortion rights, gender-diverse peoples, and bodily autonomy progressdevelopment.substack.com/p/hearing-wh...

The next phase of AI training data. Hundreds of thousands of workers in South Asia and Latin America are being paid to wear cameras on their head to record as they engage in their work - from cutting hair to textiles and through to domestic chores www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A Chinese navy hospital ship spent a week in Abidjan giving out free care — more than 4,000 consultations, according to local media. But what happens to the medical samples and personal data collected onboard? Côte d’Ivoire has laws protecting health records. The hard part is enforcing them.

Many comments on the great election victories in Brazil and Serbia state that the authorian right is in decline or that voters have rejected far-right authoritarianism. That is a wrong interpretation of what happened. Progressive movements mobilized and beat the authoritarian right. That's different

Counterpoint: CEOs should look at their companies as if they needed to provide a service for every citizen, constantly renew their social licence to operate, and plan for the long term wellbeing of the whole country. www.ft.com/content/8255...

Eastern Europe pushing out Russian-backed strongmen governments Just as Western Europe looks set to willingly elect them to power

The ingenuity and indefatigability of Serbia's student-led civic protest movement is one of the most inspirational political stories of my lifetime.

More shocking displays by Bolsonaro supporters in the last 24 hours: voters wearing T-shirts that say “long live fascism,” doing a Nazi salute when entering the polls, and a white man walking a Black man on a chain at a pro-Bolsonaro gathering in Rio de Janeiro.

What’s happening with public transport is the one confirmed voter suppression mechanism at the moment so it’s what I am focusing on, but there are SEVERAL reports of Lula voters being coerced by the military police, Bolsonaro voters threatening anyone wearing pro-Lula symbols, generalised violence…

Voting times extended by two hours in Salvador as the Labour Party tries to get extensions in more affected cities. The party is urging people to vote but the truth is that this criminal transport interference will have caused a massive loss in voting among the largely pro-Lula working class.

This criminal suspension of public transport, of course, affects the working class the most, those who overwhelmingly vote for Lula and who have to carefully plan their workdays to be able to get to the polls. If the buses don’t come, there are no hours, no minutes to spare. Those are votes gone.

We have never seen anything like it before. Proven Meta and U.S. interference in the first round; now this criminal voter suppression in the second round. The far-right loves calling corruption when they themselves are against democracy when it benefits their side. This is torturous to watch.

There is blatant voter suppression happening right now in Brazil: flights cancelled and buses suspended to Northeastern capitals where Lula holds the majority, polling stations changed to thousands of kms away last-minute, voters in London told they need to go to Edinburgh… This is criminal.

Here’s the editor of the Intercept Brazil as Lula tells the press that “something abominable is happening”

Incredible gender difference in voting intention in Brazil.

Your experience of historical European landmarks is not complete without a Gen-Z TikTok dance crew gyrating in fishnets in front of a medieval palace

*Keeps reading, waiting for the catch* Ah there are two! “They have three Airbnb properties in their name” “They run Wealthy Parent” which helps, yes, wealthy parents artificially lower their incomes to qualify for government childcare subsidies metro.co.uk/2026/10/24/e...

The Euro protest camp in Madrid is now charging tourists for tours under the tarp city Humans: ever enterprising

Canada-EU summit should include export controls on certain Canadian industries, to protect the Europeans from this horror

Canada-EU summit should include export controls on certain Canadian industries, to protect the Europeans from this horror

Off to facilitate a week of strategic planning with the largest global alliance of organizations working on men and masculinities Nobody has been more (sadly) vindicated than experts on the ways that masculinity and gender affect…*gestures wildly at everything*

My vote for ‘Worst Place To Be Celiac’ goes to airports. Captive audience, and bread, pasta and cross-contamination as far as the eye can see

“We approved that bloody North Sea gas project that makes no sense but you’re weirdly obsessed with now give Ukraine back its warning systems”

"When Washington converts trade preference programs into ideological enforcement tools, it signals to every developing economy that reliance on Western-centric infrastructure carries an unacceptable sovereign risk" thinkbrics.substack.com/p/the-myth-o...

UK job: heading Gates Foundation’s policy, advocacy and communications with the UK and Australia With the UK leading G20 next year, it’s a hectic job with travel to Aus too. It’s in a great team with lots of latitude to make it your own gatesfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/Gates/job/Lo...

Great job posting: Senior level director of policy and partnerships with CanWaCH If you're passionate about sexual, reproductive, maternal health, child health, and gender equality, and you know how to build and advance policy, this is a great job www.charityvillage.com/job/director...

The alternative is govt and philanthropy that will only fund the latest fad, but not any of the basic services, underlying supports, or staff upon whom, these fads rest Right now, you can get money for an AI gender violence app, but you cannot get money for basic GBV services

Beautifully juxtaposed

The BBC is steadily gutting itself. A downward spiral of cuts to coverage of international affairs, education, social affairs, environment and more Still, got to prioritize its main mission of normalizing Tommy Robinson as a mainstream political figure www.theguardian.com/media/2026/o...

"When a political system can’t (or doesn’t want to) deal with feedback from the governed, it diverts it into an accountability sink; legislation or policy which gives the impression decisions are being taken objectively and outside the realm of politics" backofmind.substack.com/p/the-mirage...