Apologies for the interruption in normal service, but I’ve been away at the wonderful, parched-hinterland-restoring
Edinburgh fringe (8 days; 30 shows of every genre from comedy to misery, with some ventriloquism and photography thrown in – highly recommended). Apologies too for the problems with the email alerts – we’re working on fixing that. Anyway, here’s last week’s top tweets.
The biggest development story in Europe right now is on/about our borders and it is getting ever more harrowing. Photographer Daniel Etter fills in the background on his extraordinary photo of the pain on a Syrian man’s face as he lands in Greece, which sums up the human drama more than any article, and duly went viral.
Powerful and evocative piece on the daily violence in Rio by anti-gun campaigner Robert Muggah
I know I shouldn’t find this funny, but I can’t help it – especially because the girl is so obviously enjoying mowing down her little brother. Questions arise: was he OK? What was the cameraperson thinking of? Is this a gender rights activist in the making?
China has almost wiped out urban poverty. Now it must tackle inequality. Nice overview and some new stats from the ODI’s Elizabeth Stuart
Some slightly alarming generalizations in this New York Times piece (by my neighbour Katrin Bennhold) and accompanying video on the girls who ran away from school in East London to join ISIS, but good to hear the voices of the women who were their friends, relatives and neighbours coming through loud and clear.
The Authoritarian Temptation: why does the public in Russia, Hungary, Turkey etc now seem to prefer to vote for autocrats rather than the freedoms of two decades back?
Lovely piece by a Moroccan bank director (yep, really) on launching a financial product for poorer households
Great Women Inspire Girls. Another moving Plan International Girl Power video from my sister-in-law Mary Matheson (seems to be a bit of merit-based nepotism around today – hope you don’t object)