The Human Development Index was launched in 1990 in an effort to look beyond GDP as a measure of well-being.

 A new vaccine could eradicate malaria. The R21 vaccine is already shown to be 77% effective after the initial doses and maintains its high efficacy after a single booster jab.

Prof Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, said R21 could help to reduce deaths from the disease by 70% by 2030 and eradicate it by 2040.

Good news.

The bad news is that getting the vaccine into the arms of tens of millions of African children who most need it would be a challenge without funding.

The body that provides more than half of all financing for the world’s malaria programmes, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has warned that unless it receives significantly more money from leading donor countries such as the UK at its pledging conference this month, it will not be able to get the fight against those diseases back on track after the Covid pandemic.

The UK has not yet said what it will pledge in New York, but the fund is thought to have asked for about £1.8bn. As foreign secretary, Truss outlined a strategy for overseas aid marked by an overall spending reduction and a retreat from the funding of multilateral organisations like the Global Fund.

“It’s incredibly important that the Global Fund is properly refunded. What they do is absolutely amazing,” said Hill.

Prof Halidou Tinto, regional director of the health sciences research institute (IRSS) in Nanoro, and the Burkina Faso trial principal investigator, said that while production was not expected to be an issue, the big challenge for poor African countries was how to fund the vaccine’s rollout. “This may be … the issue that could delay the deployment,” he said.

Malaria vaccine a step closer as experts urge Truss not to ‘turn off the tap’ on funding | Global health | The Guardian

 “..caring is an innate part of being human…”,  Durham University archaeologist Prof Charlotte Robertson

 “..caring is an innate part of being human…”,  Durham University archaeologist Prof Charlotte Robertson

East and west, the planetary heatwaves persist.

A heatwave enveloping the US west broke records as high temperatures and historic energy use strained California’s grid to the brink of its capacity as people increased use of their air conditioning,

California’s state capital of Sacramento on Tuesday hit an all-time high of 116F (47C), breaking a 97-year-old record. Six places in the San Francisco Bay Area and central coast set all-time record maximum temperatures, including Santa Rosa, with 115F (46C).

In neighboring Nevada, Reno’s 106F (41C) on Tuesday was its hottest day ever recorded in September and smashed the previous record for the date, 96F (36C) in 1944. It came within two degrees of the all-time high for any day or month of 108F (42C), set in July 2002 and equaled in July 2007, according to the National Weather Service.

In Salt Lake City, a city at more than 4,000ft (1,219m) elevation, temperatures were about 20 degrees higher than normal, hitting 105F (41C) on Tuesday, the hottest September day recorded going back to 1874.

Scientists say climate change has made the west warmer and drier over the last three decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. In the last five years, California has experienced the largest and most destructive fires in state history. The climate crisis has also increased the likelihood of compounding catastrophes that test resilience and capacity to respond. Hurricane Kay, which is hovering near the Mexican coast, could cause thunderstorms in California. There are risks of flooding in the southern part of the state and increased fire weather to the north.

China recorded its highest temperatures and one of its lowest levels of rainfall in 61 years during a two-month summer heatwave that caused forest fires, damaged crops and hit power supplies, the national meteorological agency said.

The average national temperature in August, 22.4C, was 1.2C higher than the seasonal norm, while average rainfall fell 23% to 82mm, the third lowest since records began in 1961, according to Xiao Chan, the vice-director of China’s national meteorological administration. The heatwave between mid-June to the end of August was the “most severe” since records began in terms of duration, extent, intensity and impact, said Xiao.

267 weather stations across China recorded their highest temperatures in history last month. The extreme temperature caused widespread drought in regions along the Yangtze River, south-western China and east and central Tibet. The persistent heat and drought caused forest fires and affected agricultural production, water resources and power supply. The Yangtze is the world’s third largest river, providing drinking water to more than 400 million Chinese people, and is the most vital waterway to China’s economy.

China has warned that extreme weather will probably persist in coming years as it tries to cope with the climate crisis and rising temperatures.

Temperatures smash records in US west as brutal heatwave continues | US news | The Guardian

China reports ‘most severe’ heatwave and third driest summer on record | China | The Guardian

 Big oil and gas companies are spending tens of millions on adverts publicising their environmental work, while only about a 10th of their investment goes into low-carbon development, a comprehensive study of public communications from five oil and gas firms by InfluenceMap, a climate finance thinktank, found. 

 60% of the ads made at least one claim highlighting the companies’ positive climate actions. But on average, the five companies devoted only 12% of capital expenditure to low-carbon activities – and this included some gas projects.

Less than one in four ads highlighted the companies’ fossil fuel activities, InfluenceMap said, which suggested that the companies were spending about $750m a year on communications aimed at burnishing their climate credentials.

Researchers looked at 3,421 public communications materials published by BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies in 2021, including articles and blog posts on corporate websites, press releases, reports, speeches and company and CEO social media accounts. They found that 60% made at least one green claim, with the most popular being centred on efforts to “transition the energy mix”. However, analysis of the capital expenditure of the five companies found that all were forecast to increase their oil and gas production, with the exception of BP, which was expected to have similar levels in 2026 as in 2021.

“Essentially, we found that big oil is spending millions of dollars on this green PR, and it is a really systematic campaign to portray themselves as pro-climate,” said Faye Holder, program manager at InfluenceMap. “But at the same time, they are still lobbying to lock in fossil fuels and investing in a really unsustainable energy future with high levels of oil and gas, and very low spend on low-carbon activities.” She added, “…it’s really clear they want to dissociate themselves from oil and gas, and attach themselves to this climate agenda.”

Shell made the most green claims, with 70% of public communications stressing pro-environmental activities, while just 10% of capital expenditure was invested in low carbon, which included some gas projects, according to InfluenceMap’s report. ExxonMobil made green claims in 70% of its communications, while devoting 8% of capital expenditure to low carbon. For TotalEnergies, 62% of communications made green claims, with 25% of capital investment going towards low carbon.

Oil and gas firms’ green investments fail to match promise of adverts – study | Fossil fuels | The Guardian

 The number of children confirmed killed or injured in Ukraine passed 1,000 today, a grim milestone after six months of war, Save the Children said today.

Since 24 February, an average of five children have been killed or injured in Ukraine every day.

I’M FOR WORLD SOCIALISM

Now that the Queen has died, what now of this archaic institution? 

The Socialist Party is unconcerned as to whether we live in a republic or a constitutional monarchy – capitalism is capitalism whatever its political label. Socialists desire a good deal more than a mere capitalist republic. 

The Royal Family in relation to the rest of society are members of the capitalist class. That is, they own so much wealth, in the form of vast landed estates, that it is economically unnecessary for them to work. This means, for example, that they can enjoy themselves at Ascot racecourse, the grouse moor or other similar places as often as they please.

As regards the Queen, we can agree with the constitutional description of her role that in law, she is the head of the executive, an integral part of the legislature. In practice, as a result of a long evolutionary process during which the absolute power of the monarchy has been progressively reduced, the Queen acts only on the advice of her ministers, which she cannot constitutionally ignore. She reigns but she does not rule. The United Kingdom is governed by Her Majesty’s Government in the name of the Queen. The Queen was merely a rubber stamp and in this respect, the Royals are an example of the redundant nature of the capitalist class in general.

It has been claimed that she performed a useful function on the grounds that the Queen created more goodwill around the world than a mere presidential head of state could. Elizabeth was worth her weight in gold as an ambassador for Britain. But what did all these foreign tours and visits really achieve? The warm welcomes offered to Her Brittanic Majesty were often quickly forgotten by political realities, as numerous conflicts within and outwith the Commonwealth have shown.

Even if it is conceded that the accompanying trade missions produced a certain measure of success, in that foreign firms were more inclined to Buy British—what relevance does this have for those of us whose lives are taken up in earning enough to go on living? It simply meant that the wealth which we produce, but what our employers own, was more easily disposed of on the world’s markets — without this necessarily benefiting us. Thus if the Queen can be said to have had any function at all, it is that of being public relations for the British capitalist class. She was richly rewarded for her services through generous payments from the Civil List.

The problem with the whole concept of royalty is that it signifies the difference between those who are born into the blue-blooded ranks of the privileged and we commoners and humble subjects.  Those who think that they are low can be more easily treated as low. 

The Chartist Ernest Jones expressed it well

“We’re low—we’re low—we’re very, very low.

As low as low can be;

The rich are high—for we make them so—

And a miserable lot are we!”

 One in 10 American households struggled to feed their families last year, with more than 5 million families missing meals and cutting portions due to poverty, new government research reveals.

 In the richest country in the world, children in 274,000 American households went hungry, skipped meals or did not eat for entire days because there was not enough money to buy food.

2.3m are unable to afford adequate nutritional food at times during 2021, according to the annual food insecurity report by the USDA.

The climate breakdown and Russia’s war in Ukraine are pushing up food prices, and the cost of groceries in July was up 13.1% compared to last year, with the price of cereal, bread and dairy products rising even higher.

One in four Americans rely on federal nutrition assistance such as food stamps and free school lunches. The rates are higher among Indigenous, Black and Latino households. Households are now also under more pressure as states roll back pandemic-linked financial support such as free school meals for every child, child tax credits and many states now stopping expanded food stamp benefits.

Realtime data from the US Census survey “suggest that food hardship has been steadily rising in families with children this year”, said Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, director of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University.

Every month, millions of Americans are forced to choose between paying for rent, healthcare, bills, childcare and groceries, because they are not paid a living wage. Food insecurity and unequal access to grocery stores play a major role in a range of public health epidemics, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease and tooth decay, as unhealthy processed foods with high levels of fat and sugar are often cheaper and more accessible than healthier options.

Food insecurity has never fallen below 10% since 2000.

One in 10 US households struggles to afford enough food, study finds | US news | The Guardian

Pakistan, among the most vulnerable globally to climate change, has seen the highest rainfall in at least three decades. Skyrocketing prices are putting food out of reach in flood-ravaged Pakistan. The government warned that a food crisis is looming. 

Pakistan already reeling from dwindling currency reserves and the fastest inflation in almost five decades faces a food shortage after torrential rains submerged a third of the country and destroyed crops. The toll of extreme flooding on Pakistan’s food security is becoming apparent, homes and livelihoods wiped out. Eight more districts were added at the weekend to the country’s calamity list of 80 areas hit by floods. The floods, which will cost an estimated $10 billion worth of damage, have claimed the lives of more than 1,300 people and forced half a million into camps. It’s also submerged large swathes of farmland and flushed away crops in a country where agriculture accounts for about a fifth of the economy. The direct crop loss to flood damage is $2.3 billion, according to an estimate by Uzair Younus, director at the Atlantic Council’s Pakistan Initiative and economist Ammar Khan. Almost 800,000 farm animals have perished, and 2 million acres of crops and orchards have been hit, according to the United Nations. More than 100 bridges and about 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) of roads damaged or destroyed.

“The agricultural sector is in turmoil. The cotton crop and vegetables are completely wiped out in many key areas,” said Pakistan Businesses Forum Vice President Ahmad Jawad, who grows wheat, maize, citrus and sugarcane. “Wild weather just can’t give us a break. First the heat wave, now floods.”

A Bloomberg report said the surge in food prices will add stress to an already fragile and politically divided economy that has just been regaining some funding strength after securing a $1.16 billion International Monetary Fund bailout and $9 billion in pledges from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

It is raising the frightening prospect of inflation hitting 30%. Pakistan already has one of the fastest inflation rates in the region, with consumer price gains rising to a 14-year high of almost 25% in July. 

“The main concern from the floods is the impact on inflation,” said Amreen Soorani, head of research at JS Global Capital. “Food shortage from floods the last time in 2010 almost doubled food inflation in two months. We’re already in a high inflationary environment, making the scenario even more difficult.”

Consumer price gains quickened to 27.26% in August, rising for a sixth straight month before the full impact of the flooding is felt. Food inflation, that makes up a third to the basket, climbed to 29.5% last month. The calculus doesn’t include yet the full impact of energy prices rising by 50%, a condition of the IMF loan.

Inflation could accelerate to 30% in the coming two months and that would take the average price gains this fiscal year to 23%-24%, surpassing the central bank’s estimate of 18%-20%, according to Fahad Rauf, head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities.

 The damage to food supplies will probably boost the nation’s need for imports and increase the pressure on global agricultural markets. Steps are being taken to import vegetables and other items from Iran and Afghanistan. Pakistan is also considering a temporary land route to allow duty-free shipments from arch-rival India.  Jawad said. “Indian imports are needed to help bring prices down.”

Sowing next year’s wheat crop, which starts in October, will be another challenge. Even before the floods, the country was facing a wheat shortage of about 2.6 million tons.

Pakistan Post-Flood Situation: Vegetable Costs Up 500% Threaten To Fuel Inflation| Countercurrents