Category: 2. World

“It’s been one of those what we might call a wastepaper basket sort of issues… that just gets pushed away by health professionals,” says neuroscientist Daniel Shepherd of Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. Only in recent years “have people actually really started to say, right, this is at an experiential level really impacting patients”, he adds. “We really need to actually start getting a handle on this.”

Noise sensitivity isn’t a formal medical diagnosis. People can find out if they’re noise sensitive by taking questionnaires like the 21-question Weinstein’s noise sensitivity scale (which asks, for instance, if you’re bothered by people whispering and crinkling sweet wrappers in a movie theatre, if you get mad at people making noise when you’re trying to sleep or work, even if the sound of music bothers you if you’re trying to concentrate.)

Noise sensitivity is different from other sound-related conditions like misophonia. This is a specific decreased tolerance to certain sounds, like chewing, throat-clearing, tapping or ticking, which trigger intense feelings of disgust or rage, explains Jennifer Brout, a clinician and the founder of the US-based International Misophonia Research Network. Noise sensitivity is also different from hyperacusis, where people feel pain or extreme discomfort because they perceive sounds more loudly than they actually are. 

Noise sensitivity, by contrast, is a general reactiveness to all sounds, regardless of how loud they’re perceived or how loud they actually are. At the very least, noise-sensitive people find sound disruptive and become annoyed, angry, or even fearful or anxious. “I remember a person describing it like having a mosquito flying around you,” Shepherd says. “You just can’t not attend to it.”

LONDON: The former head of the British Army and a House of Lords peer, Richard Dannatt, urged government ministers to crack down on Palestine Action at the behest of a US arms company that employs him as an adviser, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.

He wrote privately to two Home Office ministers, requesting that they confront the “threat” posed by the activist group, the newspaper reported.

It came after Palestine Action in 2022 targeted a factory operated by Teledyne, a US multinational that sells military technologies, and which has employed Dannatt as a paid adviser since the year of the demonstration.

Four of the group’s activists broke into the Welsh factory to protest the sale of arms to Israel. Two years ago, they were convicted of conspiring to damage the factory.

Palestine Action was listed as a terrorist organization in the UK last month after it carried out a demonstration on a British airbase, damaging Royal Air Force aircraft.

A court case that involved one of the four activists involved in the 2022 protest heard allegations that Dannatt was “seeking to influence” the criminal investigation into Palestine Action.

According to court information, the chief police officer leading the probe told Teledyne executives: “It would not be wise to have a member of the House of Lords poking around in a live criminal case.”

Dannatt said the allegations were “baseless” and he was unaware of the exchanges mentioned in court.

Separately, the life peer is under investigation over two sets of allegations relating to alleged lobbying, which Parliament expressly forbids.

Ten days after the 2022 factory protest, Sgt. Alex Stuart of Dyfed-Powys police, head of the resultant criminal investigation, sent an email to four of his superiors.

He had already spoken to the factory’s general manager, who had told him that a senior US-based Teledyne executive had “spoken to Lord Richard Dannatt about Palestine Action.”

Stuart wrote: “Lord Dannatt was chief of the army general staff. He’s now a life peer. He has an invested interest (sic) in this aspect of UK trade and investment, particularly military projects.

“Essentially, there have been an indication that he wants this case to be explained, and he wants to have some input on it.

“They haven’t explained exactly what he wants, however I have told them that it would not be wise to have a member of the House of Lords poking around in a live criminal case.”

Later that year, Dannatt held an online call with the factory’s general manager and a senior member of Teledyne.

He told The Guardian that the multinational had “contacted me to seek my assistance in raising concerns by the company to the government with regard to attacks on their premises.

“They briefed me on the Palestine Action attacks, and I then agreed to write to the home secretary.”

The former army chief sent a letter to then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman, which declared his advisory role “at the outset.”

In the letter, he said: “The threat from Palestine Action has more widespread implications for security and the economy within the UK.

“The slow pace at which the British legal system has been working to take action against those involved in the trespass and criminal damage resulting from such ‘direct action’ has served to embolden Palestine Action and their continued recruitment drive for individuals who are prepared to commit arrestable offences.”

Last year, he again contacted the government to address new “attacks” on Teledyne facilities in the UK.

Company officials had again requested that he raise their concerns to the British government, he told The Guardian.

In a letter to Security Minister Dan Jarvis, Dannatt said he would be “very grateful to receive assurance from the current government that the threat posed by Palestine Action continues to be fully recognized by our security services and that appropriate action is being taken.”

A scramble for aid turned into a deadly stampede and gunfire in Gaza on Monday, as scores of Palestinians were killed or wounded while chasing food amid a relentless Israeli siege that has choked the enclave and dragged it to the brink of famine nearly 22 months into the war.

Parachutes bring hope and chaos

In the skies over central Gaza, aid pallets parachuted down over the town of Zuweida. On the ground, hundreds of men – many of them gaunt, barefoot and desperate – raced to catch the falling packages. Cheers broke out as the aid descended.

But the joy quickly unraveled into chaos. Fights erupted, batons were raised, and one package crashed into a tent, injuring a displaced man who was rushed to the hospital.

Rabah Rabah, standing amid the crowd, shook his head in disbelief. “I wish they would deliver it through the crossings,” he said. “This is inhuman.”

Symbol of risk and desperation

As land routes remain heavily restricted, airdrops have become a lifeline – and a gamble. Several nations have turned to parachuting food and medicine into Gaza, but the method is far from precise. Some parcels fall into the sea, others into “red zones” declared off-limits by the Israeli military.

Still, starving Palestinians venture into these perilous zones, risking their lives for basic staples like flour and cooking oil. The United Nations and aid groups have condemned the airdrops as costly, unsafe and woefully inadequate compared to land deliveries.

Gunfire near aid and border crossings

The day’s bloodshed wasn’t confined to falling aid. Near the Israeli-controlled Zikim Crossing, at least 16 Palestinians were killed and over 130 wounded, according to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Witnesses and health officials blamed Israeli fire. The military offered no comment.

In Khan Younis, Israeli airstrikes killed five people sheltering in tents in the al-Mawasi area. Later, three more were gunned down near an aid distribution point south of the city.

In central Gaza, west of Nuseirat refugee camp, an Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians, including a woman. Four others were killed in Gaza City as jets struck residential apartments. The neighborhood of Sheikh Radwan was also hit, causing panic and injuries.

Alarming rise in neurological illness

As the wounded poured into hospitals, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported a sharp increase in cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare and potentially deadly neurological disorder.

Ninety-five cases were confirmed – including 45 children – a likely consequence of widespread malnutrition and chronic stress.

Tensions boiled over along the Morag Corridor – a road carved by Israeli forces between Khan Younis and Rafah for aid delivery. Witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire on young men who moved toward the convoy.

Mohammed al-Masri, who was there, described the horror: “One man lay motionless. Others screamed in pain.”

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received 10 bodies from Morag and five more from near a distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a U.S.-backed contractor.

Though GHF denied any violence, it admitted its staff had fired warning shots and used pepper spray to contain crowds.

At another GHF site in the Netzarim Corridor, Al-Awda Hospital confirmed receiving eight more bodies. Fifty people were wounded, some severely. Witnesses said Israeli troops had opened fire.

A video showed a man carrying a lifeless body while others hauled sacks of food in the dust. “It’s like yesterday, and the day before,” said Ayman Ruqab, who had tried three times to reach the aid drop, only to be driven back by gunfire. “It’s a death trap.”

The Israeli army claimed it fired only warning shots at individuals who “posed a threat,” adding it was unaware of any casualties.

Mounting death toll and legal scrutiny

The broader toll of the war remains staggering.

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel and saw 251 hostages taken, Israel has launched a massive military campaign that has killed more than 60,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Nearly half of the dead are women and children.

Israel disputes these figures but has not provided alternative data. The U.N. and international health experts say the Health Ministry’s numbers remain the most credible.

Israel faces increasing legal scrutiny. In November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Simultaneously, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is investigating allegations of genocide.

Meanwhile, the fate of the hostages remains unresolved. Of the 251 taken by Hamas, about 50 are still believed to be in Gaza – trapped in a war zone as hunger tightens its grip.

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A member of the House of Lords urged ministers to crack down on Palestine Action at the request of a US defence company that employs him as an adviser.

Richard Dannatt, a former head of the British army, wrote privately to two separate Home Office ministers asking them to address the “threat” posed by the group after its activists targeted a factory in 2022.

The activists caused extensive damage to the factory which is run by Teledyne, a US multinational that sells technology for military, aerospace and other applications. Lord Dannatt has been a paid adviser to the company since 2022.

Dannatt’s involvement after the attack on the factory in Wales led to allegations heard later in court that the peer was “seeking to influence” the criminal investigation into the Palestine Action activists.

The police officer in charge of the investigation had told Teledyne executives that “it would not be wise to have a member of the House of Lords poking around in a live criminal case”, according to evidence heard in the trial of one of the activists.

Dannatt said he was completely unaware of the exchanges in the trial and said the allegations were “baseless”.

His actions on behalf of the company nonetheless demonstrate the value to companies looking to affect government policy of having a member of the House of Lords as an adviser.

Dannatt, 74, has sat in the Lords since 2011. He is now under investigation by the house authorities over two sets of allegations that he broke parliamentary rules that forbid lobbying. One allegation stems from undercover filming by the Guardian.

He has denied the earlier allegations, saying: “I am well aware of … the Lords code of conduct … I have always acted on my personal honour.”

In July this year, ministers banned Palestine Action, claiming it was involved in terrorism. Supporters of the group countered that the ban was absurd and draconian. The group is challenging the legality of the ban in court.

‘They need to establish what Lord Dannatt wants’

Two years ago, four activists were convicted of conspiring to damage Teledyne’s factory in Presteigne in Wales. They had broken into the factory to protest against the sale of military equipment to Israel.

They smashed windows and computer screens, drilled holes in the roof, sprayed red paint, and set off smoke grenades. Prosecutors told the court that the damage totalled more than £1m. The four activists were jailed for between 23 and 27 months.

While three of the activists pleaded guilty, the fourth went to trial. Transcripts of her trial were obtained by the Guardian and reveal allegations heard in court that Dannatt sought to interfere in the police’s investigation of the protest.

On 19 December 2022, 10 days after the action at the Welsh factory, Sgt Alex Stuart of Dyfed-Powys police, who was in charge of the investigation, sent an email to four of his superiors.

He had spoken with the general manager of the factory in the UK. She had told him that a senior Teledyne executive based in the US had “spoken to Lord Richard Dannatt about Palestine Action”.

Stuart wrote: “Lord Dannatt was chief of the army general staff. He’s now a life peer. He has an invested interest [sic] in this aspect of UK trade and investment, particularly military projects.

“Essentially there have been an indication that he wants this case to be explained and he wants to have some input on it. They haven’t explained exactly what he wants, however I have told them that it would not be wise to have a member of the House of Lords poking around in a live criminal case.”

He added: “I have explained that they need to establish what Lord Dannatt wants.” He wrote that if the peer was concerned in general about Palestine Action’s tactics, he should talk to senior police officers at a national level. “It’s not best placed for him to actively speak with an investigation team about the matter in the way that I think he wants to.”

Later that day, a DCI replied to Stuart: “The chief constable is aware of the case and has received an update. Whilst Lord Dannatt has every right to communicate with the force regarding matters of concern, it does not mean that the matters he raises receive the response that he may want.”

At the criminal trial in May 2023, James Manning, the barrister for one of the defendants, asked Stuart whether he was concerned that Dannatt was seeking to have some input into the case which at that stage was being investigated by the police as a live criminal investigation. Stuart replied: “Yeah, to a certain extent, yes.”

Manning then asked: “And you thought that that was inappropriate … and you told [Teledyne] as much?” Stuart replied: “Yes.”

Elen Owen, the prosecutor, told the court there was “absolutely no evidence” that Dannatt had tried to “influence” the investigation. “He was just asking for information and the email … chain makes it quite clear that the decision was made by the police that it would be inappropriate to, to make any contact with him and, and that was the end of the matter.”

The judge hearing the case, Rhys Rowlands, agreed with the prosecution that Dannatt was not relevant to the trial and that there was no evidence to suggest he had tried to interfere. His opinion was based on a decision about whether the police officer could be questioned about his concerns. He allowed the questioning to go ahead, though ruled Dannatt could not be named.

Dannatt described the officer’s allegations as “unfounded” and pointed to the judge’s view that he “had nothing to do with the trial”. He suggested the general manager may have sought to use his name to help present their case. Teledyne and the general manager did not respond to a request for comment.

Letter to Suella Braverman

On 22 December 2022, Dannatt had an online call with the factory’s general manager and another senior member of Teledyne. Dannatt told the Guardian that Teledyne had “contacted me to seek my assistance in raising concerns by the company to the government with regard to attacks on their premises”. He added: “They briefed me on the Palestine Action attacks, and I then agreed to write to the home secretary.”

In his letter, Dannatt declared his role “at the outset” as a paid adviser to the company, but said he believed “the threat from Palestine Action has more widespread implications for security and the economy within the United Kingdom”.

The letter to Suella Braverman was headed “General The Lord Dannatt GCB CBE MC DL”, addressed from the House of Lords.

He outlined the details of Palestine Action’s activities at Teledyne’s factory and at another factory run by a different arms company in Edinburgh.

Dannatt wrote: “The slow pace at which the British legal system has been working to take action against those involved in the trespass and criminal damage resulting from such ‘direct action’ has served to embolden Palestine Action and their continued recruitment drive for individuals who are prepared to commit arrestable offences.”

He told Braverman he would be “very grateful to receive assurance that the threat from Palestine Action is fully recognised by our security services and appropriate action [is] either planned or being taken”. He said he had “undertaken to brief the Teledyne main board in the United States that the threat from Palestine Action in the UK is being suitably addressed”.

Dannatt contacted the government again in September 2024 after “attacks on Teledyne facilities continued and the company asked [him] to raise their concerns again”.

In a letter to Dan Jarvis, the Labour security minister, Dannatt once again disclosed his role. Under the same letterhead, he said he would be “very grateful to receive assurance from the current government that the threat posed by Palestine Action continues to be fully recognised by our security services and that appropriate action is being taken.”

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Illustration: Guardian Design / Rich Cousins

Good morning. Not only does plastic waste clog up waterways, beaches and strangle sea life, it also causes havoc inside the human body. Tiny fragments – invisible to the human eye – are probably swimming around your lungs, blood and liver right now.

This represents a “growing and underrecognised danger” to human health, the latest report in the Lancet warns, as 10 days of tense talks kick off in Geneva today, with 179 countries due to hash out a kind of “Paris agreement for plastic pollution”.

These talks – which have been going on since 2022 – have been dogged by deep disagreements. More than 100 nations want a legally binding cap on plastic production, while petrostates want to keep things vague, and maybe promise to, errrrr, do some more recycling, perhaps? It’s possible talks will collapse with no reference to cuts to plastic production.

I spoke to the Guardian’s environment correspondent Sandra Laville about why the sixth (and hopefully final) round of talks are likely to be so fraught and what a good deal could look like.

Five big stories

1. Weather | Gusts of more than 100mph from Storm Floris have brought travel disruption, power cuts and the widespread cancellation of events across large parts of the UK. Disruption to the rail network in Scotland is expected until around 4pm on Tuesday, ScotRail has said.

2. UK news | A member of the House of Lords urged ministers to crack down on Palestine Action at the request of a US defence company that employs him as an adviser. Police are planning to arrest anyone demonstrating in support of Palestine Action this weekend.

3. Politics | The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, is not telling the truth about the “real failures of 14 years of Conservative government”, the former Conservative prime minister Liz Truss has said.

4. Tommy Robinson | The far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson has been arrested by British police on suspicion of grievous bodily harm after a man was allegedly assaulted at a London railway station.

5. Gaza | More than 100 critically ill and injured children in Gaza hope to come to the UK as soon as possible after the government announced a scheme to provide those in severe need with NHS care.

In depth: 10 days, 179 countries and one critical quest to reach a global treaty on plastic

The United Nations agreed to create a treaty on plastic in 2022. Since then, five separate negotiations have failed to secure an agreement. Initially, the idea was for the treaty to address the whole life cycle of plastics, but plans have since been watered down.

The last round of talks – held in Busan, South Korea – broke down at the end of last year. “There was some concern we wouldn’t even get another meeting,” says Sandra Laville. Country representatives are resuming today for 10 days of talks in Switzerland.

Although plastic is often seen as a cheap material, it’s expensive when you factor in the cost of cleaning up the damage it causes – the latest report found it is responsible for at least $1.5tn (£1.1tn) a year in health-related damages. And almost all plastic is made from fossil oil and gas. Producing all of this plastic results in greater emissions than those produced by Russia – the world’s fourth-largest polluter.

According to the University of Oxford’s Our World in Data, plastic production has increased sharply over the past 70 years. In 1950, the world was producing two million tonnes of plastic to more than 450m tonnes today. Less than 10% of the world’s plastic is recycled, and more than 40% is stuck in landfill. “Single-use plastic is the big earner for lots of companies and the petrochemical industry,” says Sandra.

There were a record 220 fossil fuel and chemic industry lobbyists at the December talks in Busan. That was far more than even the host nation’s delegation of 140 and was three times the number of independent scientists. Hotel and flight costs make the treaty negotiations expensive to attend, which is why rich industrial interests can flood the talks with lobbyists while smaller countries, scientists and NGOs struggle to find the funds.

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Why is this such a pressing problem for human health?

Plastic is, in many ways, a wonder material, but the most rapid increase in production is for single-use plastics, things such as drinks bottles and fast-food packaging, which we sometimes use for a matter of minutes before chucking away. This sort of plastic may be a big earner for companies, but it is not essential for human wellbeing, and the drawbacks are significant.

The latest review, published in the leading medical journal the Lancet, was carried out by leading health researchers and doctors. They found plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age because they are laced in more than 16,000 chemicals such as fillers, dyes, flame retardants and stabilisers which have been known to damage human health.

The most vulnerable in society are the most at risk. The analysis found that foetuses and infants were subject to harms such as increased risks of miscarriage, stillbirth, birth defects, impaired lung growth, childhood cancer and fertility problems later in life.

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What are delegates going to achieve?

There are two groups battling it out in Geneva. One is comprised of more than 100 countries – including the EU – which support legally binding global reductions in plastic production and the phasing out of single-use plastic products. The other camp are countries with large fossil fuel industries, such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran, who say they don’t want any suggestion of tackling plastic production.

The latter group want the agreement to focus on better management and recycling of waste, and for countries to implement voluntary or national measures. “Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China have moved the discussion away from production towards, ‘Oh we just need to manage the waste better, oh we just need to recycle more’,” says Sandra.

Since 2022, these divisions have become more entrenched. Countries such as Egypt and Malaysia have plastic industry representatives in their national delegations. Meanwhile, the 100 high-ambition countries are not going to fold – the evidence shows we have to reduce plastic production to reduce pollution. “That’s why it all collapsed in Busan in December,” says Sandra.

The nature of any agreement is still up the air – it’s possible a meaningful treaty will be agreed, or they have further meetings, or some countries agree to pursue a “coalition of the willing” treaty outside the UN. Greenpeace is calling for at least a 75% reduction in plastic production by 2040.

But if an agreement can be reached, it would be the equivalent of getting the Paris agreement for climate negotiations. “You can argue the Paris agreement hasn’t done much, but there has been an agreement, and we just haven’t had one on plastic pollution. So this is the kind of vacuum that needs to be filled,” says Sandra.

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What does this say about international environmental diplomacy?

“I think there was this real optimism in 2022 when the idea of a treaty was agreed,” says Sandra. Scientists were saying that getting a good agreement could be a gamechanger for cutting plastic pollution. But the winds appear to have changed. “By last November that optimism had all gone.”

The US – which is the world’s second-largest producer of plastic after China – has flip-flopped positions during negotiations, but now appears to be aligned with other major fossil fuel producers and is supporting the least ambitious option. China and Iran are also among the countries looking for less ambition, an option they describe as “realistic”. It comes as the Trump administration in the US rolls back environmental policies, including a longstanding finding on greenhouse gas emissions endangering health.

Andrés del Castillo, senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), a non profit providing legal counsel to some countries attending the talks, said oil states were questioning even basic facts about the harm to health caused by plastics. “We are in a moment of revisionism, where even science is highly politicised,” he says.

Hopes for a “last-chance” ambitious global treaty to curb plastic pollution are looking dim – but a weaker agreement still shows international diplomacy functions. “It doesn’t feel as if the world is ready to address any of this,” says Sandra. “I do think that any treaty – as long as it’s not really weak – is a good thing to hold up.”

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What else we’ve been reading

• Nels Abbey is compelling in this column on Kemi Badenoch’s “comedic, but sadly revealing” rejection of her Nigerian heritage – not least, he writes, because her life “hardly describes the general Black experience”. Charlie Lindlar, acting deputy editor, newsletters

• Someone in Teesside has (or had) been sharing their house with a rat the length of a carry-on luggage bag. Rats are getting bigger and bolder as cash-strapped local authorities can’t deal with pest control. Quite a memorable read – if only for the picture at the top. Phoebe

• Some strong takes here in Michael Hogan’s list of TV characters so bad they ruined shows. Emily from Friends (“unfunny wet blanket”) gets a rough go of it, but Ted Lasso’s Nate Shelley deserves even deeper condemnation. Charlie

• Millions of people are in line for payouts after the launch of a compensation scheme for those affected by the car finance scandal. This is a useful explainer on who is eligible and what you need to do. Phoebe

• Forget something to read, how about something to cook? Rukmini Iyer’s baked feta tacos with pink onion and pineapple salsa is a fun, fuss-free dinner that, she promises, “comes together in minutes”. Charlie

Sport

Football | Everton have raised their bid for Tyler Dibling to about £40m and opened talks with Chelsea over signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (pictured above) as they attempt to ease David Moyes’s transfer frustrations.

Formula One | Lewis Hamilton gave a remarkably downbeat response after a 12th place finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, prompting questions about his future. The former world champion suggested he was in turmoil and that he would “hopefully” return when F1 resumes after the summer break.

Football | Fifa is facing a multibillion-pound claim for compensation from a group of former players after last year’s ruling by the European court of justice that its transfer rules are unlawful.

The front pages

The Guardian leads with “Police warn of mass arrests at Palestine Action protest”. The Mirror reports on Nigel Farage under the headline “Fanning the flames”. The i reports “Home Office to detain small boat migrants for deportation to France in days”. The Times has “PM and police at odds over migrant suspects”.

The Telegraph reports “Parents pay £500m to beat school VAT raid”. The Financial Times says “Tesla awards Musk $30bn of stock to keep billionaire focused on business”.

Today in Focus

How the Trump administration made a sewage crisis ‘woke’

How did the Trump administration upend a landmark civil rights victory for environmental justice? Nina Lakhani reports.

Cartoon of the day | Stephen Lillie

The Upside

A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad

Last year, Chiara Wilkinson (pictured above) felt increasing guilt about getting to the end of a week and facing a fridge full of wilted ingredients. A long commute and grand ideas about what she had the time and energy to cook meant that a lot of food got chucked in the compost bin.

But last summer, while auditing her overall spending, she also started growing a few vegetables. “It was as if a switch had been flicked in my mind – as if it had taken the idea of growing my own food to truly understand the value and timescale of food production,” she writes. She committed to using up every scrap of uneaten food and became more flexible about following recipes. Apples in a curry? Yes, please. Leftover roast potatoes with spaghetti? Delicious.

It hasn’t been without what she terms “flavour disasters”, but she has found the challenge has made her less ambitious but more creative. “Best of all,” Wilkinson writes, “I’ve rediscovered what I loved about cooking in the first place: the joy of making something delicious out of almost nothing.”

Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday

Bored at work?

And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.