The Town and Country Planning Act 1932 (TCPA 1932) was the first planning Act in English law to include country within the legal scope of town planning. This transformed the scope of town planning, legally enabling planning and land administration on a local, regional and national level. Despite this, the TCPA 1932 has been overlooked by legal scholars, who mark the origins of modern planning with the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. This paper celebrates the legacies of the TCPA 1932, namely the inclusion of rural areas within planning legislation, and the centralised role of local authorities in effectuating planning practice, demonstrating how these principles continue to shape planning legislation into the present.

We present a new 1:500 000 geological map of Alexander Island of West Antarctica. The map, combined with recent detrital zircon analysis, defines an updated chronostratigraphy for the Fossil Bluff Group, a Late Jurassic–Cretaceous forearc succession > 8 km in thickness that represents one of the most complete forearc successions globally. The forearc succession overlies and is in faulted contact with the LeMay Group, a late Permian basement accretionary complex that forms part of an extensive array of late Permian accretionary complexes in West Gondwana. The LeMay Group is intruded and overlain by a succession of Late Cretaceous–Palaeogene intermediate to silicic volcanic rocks and granitoid plutons. The uppermost unit on Alexander Island is an episode of Neogene to Quaternary basaltic volcanism associated with ridge-trench collisions and slab window development.

Using a dynamic computable general equilibrium model that differentiates cropping activities and labour by sex and includes household home production, this study examines the effects of rainfall variability in Burkina Faso from both a macroeconomic perspective and a gender lens. The simulation of the annual rainfall pattern observed in the country over the past decade highlights its broad economic effects and confirms the greater sensitivity of female-led cropping activities. It also underscores the differential impacts on female and male workers in the labour market and within households, revealing the interactions between the non-market and market spheres of the economy when a rainfall shock occurs. Nevertheless, additional simulations suggest that promoting water management systems or more water-stress-resistant crop varieties could help mitigate the effects of rainfall variability and that targeted measures to support female farmers could effectively reduce their specific vulnerability.

By allocating their attention to pieces of content, algorithmic filtering shapes the daily behavior of billions of users when they interact with a digital platform. Beyond conditioning what we do, can recommendation algorithms influence who we are? This article suggests that they do. Specifically, I contend that recommender systems affect users’ capacity to be their authentic selves in both positive and negative ways. I start by offering an account of authenticity that builds on two central concepts: volitional alignment and self-understanding. I then explain how algorithmic filtering works and impacts authenticity. While recommender systems frustrate users’ second-order desires by relying on uninformative behavioral signals, they also facilitate self-understanding by inciting users to question their identity. I end by discussing how controllable and explainable recommenders would best enable users to be authentic.

In meritocratic societies, inequality is considered just if it reflects factors within but not outside individuals’ control. However, individuals often benefit differentially from other people’s efforts. Such passive inequality is simultaneously just and unjust by meritocratic standards, confronting meritocrats with a dilemma. We conducted an experiment with a representative US sample to investigate how people deal with this dilemma. In the experiment, impartial spectators redistribute payments between pairs of individuals. We vary whether initial payments result from luck or effort and whether spectators redistribute between individuals who worked themselves or individuals who benefited from the work of real-life friends. We find that spectators treat inequality based on the efforts of individuals’ friends as if individuals had worked themselves, and very different from inequality resulting from differential luck. This indicates that most people accept inequality if it is merited at some stage, which may explain opposition to redistributive policies.

Legal epidemiology is an emerging field that examines how laws and policies influence human rights and health outcomes, particularly in areas such as in-patient psychiatric treatment, community treatment orders and child maltreatment, This editorial highlights contributions from BJPsych Open that apply legal epidemiological methods to assess issues relevant to child maltreatment and coercion in psychiatric care. Findings emphasise the need for early intervention, standardised evaluation measures and reforms that prioritise human rights and well-being. Legal epidemiology can offer a scientific basis for improving legal frameworks, as well as promoting equitable and effective mental healthcare.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technologies into peace dialogues offers both innovative possibilities and critical challenges for contemporary peacebuilding practice. This article proposes a context-sensitive taxonomy of digital deliberation tools designed to guide the selection and adaptation of AI-assisted platforms in conflict-affected environments. Moving beyond static typologies, the framework accounts for variables such as scale, digital literacy, inclusivity, security, and the depth of AI integration. By situating digital peace dialogues within broader peacebuilding and digital democracy frameworks, the article examines how AI can enhance participation, scale deliberation, and support knowledge synthesis, —while also highlighting emerging concerns around algorithmic bias, digital exclusion, and cybersecurity threats. Drawing on case studies involving the United Nations (UN) and civil society actors, the article underscores the limitations of one-size-fits-all approaches and makes the case for hybrid models that balance AI capabilities with human facilitation to foster trust, legitimacy, and context-responsive dialogue. The analysis contributes to peacebuilding scholarship by engaging with the ethics of AI, the politics of digital diplomacy, and the sustainability of technological interventions in peace processes. Ultimately, the study argues for a dynamic, adaptive approach to AI integration, continuously attuned to the ethical, political, and socio-cultural dimensions of peacebuilding practice.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted significant vulnerabilities in long-term care (LTC) homes, severely impacting residents and care partners. This study investigates how care partners of older adults living in Ontario LTC homes perceived residents’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how those perceptions shaped their own caregiving experiences. Using critical ethnography, we identified four key themes: (a) masks and miscommunication, (b) loneliness and loss, (c) from interaction to isolation, and (d) loss of the advocacy role. Supportive actions included transparent masks, increased allied health professionals, and enriching daily programs. These findings emphasize the need for policies that balance infection control with the emotional and social needs of LTC residents, addressing power imbalances, ageism, and systemic inequities.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of gillnet soak time to gain a better understanding of fish welfare, mortality, stress, and quality (as measured as muscle haemoglobin) during experimental gillnet fishery of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). An experimental study was conducted in a large-scale tank at a research facility with 131 wild-caught fish in four groups with gillnet soak times of 0, 2, 12, and 24 h (23–34 fish per soak time). Longer soak time caused higher mortality, with a mortality rate of 0, 7, 18, and 25% in the 0-, 2-, 12- and 24-h groups, respectively. Blood lactate levels were significantly affected by soak time, peaking at 2 h (with the widest confidence interval) and showing their lowest concentrations at 0 and 24 h. Soak time also significantly increased blood glucose and serum cortisol levels. Magnesium, creatinine, and iron increased significantly in all groups compared with control levels, but there was no significant difference between soak times. Haemoglobin content in the loin increased significantly only after 24 h of soak time for live fish. There was no significant increase in haemoglobin in the belly as a function of soak time. However, for all soak times, the belly had significantly more haemoglobin than the loin. Physiological evidence of traumatic injuries and stress were noted prior to increased muscle haemoglobin, meaning that good quality did not necessarily equate to good welfare. However, a higher level of muscle haemoglobin is a strong indication of poor welfare.

This article examines the ways in which sexual and reproductive health themes appear in the Birmingham Black Oral History Project. As a community Black oral history project, it did not set out to collect memories of sexual or reproductive health. Despite that, the collection offers rich insights into the underexplored place of sexual and reproductive health within Black British histories. The article argues that archived oral history interviews should be “reused” as part of that historiographical exploration. It analyses the ways in which dominant interest in questions of “illegitimacy”—interest that had colonial roots—led to memories of sex education, courtship, and access to abortion in mid-twentieth-century Jamaica. Through a case study analysis of one interviewee—Carlton Duncan, father to the first “Black test tube twins”—the article concludes by arguing that being attentive to interviewee composure makes more visible the availability of narratives and cultural discourses through which interviewees could narrate or shape their sexual and reproductive health histories. As a whole, the article offers a new lens on postcolonial British history by analyzing the racist stereotyping that endured across the postwar period, especially in relation to Black sexuality and fertility.

Invasive plants commonly establish and spread along roadsides, and understanding the mechanisms underlying this pattern is essential for risk assessment and effective management. Stinkwort [Dittrichia graveolens (L.) Greuter], a recent California invader, primarily inhabits roadsides but is beginning to spread into nearby plant communities. We tested whether D. graveolens grows best along roadsides due to a preference for soil conditions or is limited to these disturbed environments by plant competition. Lab and greenhouse experiments showed no germination advantage in engineered fill (simulating roadside soils), and D. graveolens grew slightly better in field topsoil. Competition trials with two annual grasses [soft brome (Bromus hordeaceus L.) and Italian ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)] showed strong growth suppression of D. graveolens by both grasses, but competition was stronger in field topsoil than engineered fill. Engineered fill limited growth for all species, suggesting that roadside soils may provide a refuge from competition. In 2 yr of field experiments, we examined mechanisms of competition by comparing responses to (1) removal of thatch, aboveground biomass, and above- and belowground biomass; (2) shading; and (3) water and nutrient addition and protection from belowground competition via trenching. Belowground competition in particular strongly affected D. graveolens’ performance. Our findings suggest that competition confines D. graveolens to disturbed roadsides; management should prioritize reducing bare, disturbed areas, and enhancing plant competition in areas vulnerable to invasion.

There is a great potential for carefully designed economic empowerment programmes to improve mental health in recipients and their significant others. Onono and colleagues interviewed 62 caregiver-adolescent dyads on the effect of an economic empowerment intervention consisting of microcredits to purchase farming implements and a water pump to irrigate crops throughout the year combined with agricultural and financial training. Their intersectoral economic empowerment intervention decreased parental stress, parental absenteeism as well as harsh parenting and disciplining practices. This translated to better caregiver-adolescent communication and improved household dynamics, thus increasing the psychological well-being of adolescents. The research contributes to a growing evidence base on the importance of economic empowerment interventions for mental health by generating hypotheses on mechanisms of action.