An assistant professor of design in America has come up with a radical idea to improve chickens’ lives in battery cages – give them virtual reality headsets. Austin Stewart has created a game called “Second Livestock”, where chickens can roam a virtual field and supposedly enjoy all the perks of free range living while still in cages. The technology has not been implemented, and would need extensive ethics approval, but Stewart believes it could open up a conversation on animal husbandry.
A BBC documentary has uncovered the hidden and lucrative world of human trafficking in Glasgow. Humans For Sale investigated the gangs which sell women and girls from Eastern European countries to men in Glasgow for sham marriages. The men are mostly from Asia, and marry the women in order to be allowed to apply for residency through their EU citizen spouses.
Louise Wylie on the Wikipedia ban and the alarming situation in Turkey
Prince Philip is retiring. The Duke of Edinburgh – consort of the Queen and part-time lizard monster – is hanging up his loafers at the grand old age of 96, presumably in order to wait for the inevitable release of death. The prince, whose longevity is supposedly due to a strict diet of quails’ eggs and the souls of the poor, will not accept any more public engagements from this autumn, to the great relief of those who organise the events.
An anthology of creative writing from students at the University of Glasgow, in 5 parts under the theme of Silver Linings:
Paper Hands, a short story by Leah Jones
Sparks Fly, a short story by Fiona Dorchester
Danger Here, a poem by Angie Spoto
Short Hair Don’t Care, a short story by Louise Wylie
Leaves, a poem by Rachel Brough
The jittering in Beth’s hands had returned. It was worse in the left than in the right: some quirk of evolution no doubt. The left half of her body was always more emotional than the right. But it was uncomfortably moist in the room; dampness covered the seat on which she was tensely perching.
Election season is in full bloom now, and one policy in particular has attracted widespread criticisms – the so-called “rape clause”. Four out of the five Holyrood party leaders attended a protest against the new policy (the exception being, of course, Ruth Davidson), with Nicola Sturgeon calling it “disgusting”. Hundreds of protesters have also gathered in George Square calling for the scrapping of the policy, but have so far been ignored.
