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Choose a news article from 2022 or 2021.
It can not be about Covid
It should be interesting and clear that it is a persuasive piece.
In your post: add the article link, note the contention of the article and list 3 persuasive techniques.
See my example

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-24/young-people-politically-engaged-absent-election-campaign/101008836

Contention: Politicians should pay more attention to younger voters,  not the status quo

Persuasive Techniques:
Statistics
Expert Opinion
Pun

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Two weeks into this election campaign, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's been nothing but typical: gaffes here, apologies for insensitive comments there, gotcha questions, photo opps, front page scare campaigns.

Once we have a photo of a candidate awkwardly eating a sausage sandwich, or a root vegetable, you'll be able to call "bingo".

But amidst all the campaign fodder this week, you might have missed the most important and heartwarming bit: Australia recorded its single biggest day of enrolments in history. More than half of the 700,000 new enrolments to the AEC were from 18-24 year olds.

How significant is that, exactly? Well, hallelujah, the Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers called it a "democratic miracle".

But what's also miraculous is how little mention those young, first time voters have gotten on the campaign trail so far.

At triple j Hack, our listeners tell us every day about what's most important to them when it comes to choosing their elected officials: climate change.

One Hack listener told us this week: "Just hearing the words 'climate change' come out of a politician's mouth is reassuring." (ABC News: Tim Swanston )

Young people want climate action

But don't just take it from those latte-sipping, festival-going triple j listeners: according to Vote Compass, 38 per cent of 18-29 year-olds nominated climate change as their most important issue, which was higher than anything else.

While climate change was largely absent from the first week of the campaign, it did make some headlines in the second. The focus this week saw the Coalition attack Labor's climate change policy, claiming it would send electricity prices soaring.

Whether or not that claim is true is beside the point for young people. Ask a young person about climate change and they won't talk to you about the cost of electricity or the price of lowering emissions. They'll ask you about the cost of inaction - and the price of avoiding the topic.

As one listener told us last week, even the simple act of acknowledging climate change goes a long way: "Just hearing the words 'climate change' come out of a politician's mouth is reassuring."

Long wait times for mental health care

Climate change isn't the only priority for young voters. When Hack visited regional Victoria this week, the problems with accessing timely mental health care were immediately clear.

Young people can wait months to see a psychologist, according to former Victorian Young Australian of the Year Dr Skye Kinder.

"I would probably suggest that waiting up to 12 months is not necessarily uncommon," Dr Kinder said.

This is something the major parties are, to their credit, hoping to tackle. But while the Coalition has a mental health policy that promises record spending and a focus on suicide prevention, and Labor is spruiking a policy that includes better access to bulk-billed psychiatry appointments in the regions, the issue is still noticeably absent from debates, media appearances and glossy campaign material.

Some young trans people say elections mean they have to 'brace' for transphobic politics and media coverage.(AAP: Carol Cho )

Instead, this week's campaign has been dominated by a debate about transgender athletes. This discussion is not only near the bottom of the pile in terms of priorities for young voters, it's one that has already proven to cause mental distress among trans people.

Ironically, while both major parties are campaigning to improve mental health outcomes, controversies on the campaign trail appear to be causing harm.

According to QLife, the national LGBTQI+ helpline, calls from transgender contacts went up by 56 per cent in the past week. They noted an "increase of distress in the community".

As Liam, a trans person from Melbourne told Hack on day one of the election campaign, all of this was sadly predictable.

"As a trans person, elections just mean having to be braced for the media and pollies using us as political pawns. There's always extra transphobic media during these times," Liam said.

Catch up on all the news about the 2022 Australian federal election from April 22 in our blog

Media appearances on legacy formats

Nothing exemplified the alienation of young people in the campaign than the leaders debate on Sky News.

It wasn't the content of the debate that left young people out, exactly, but its placement: Sky News is a subscription linear broadcast television channel - a string of words that are basically Greek to young Australians under 25. It's not uncommon for young people to not own a TV, let alone have an antenna plugged in.

Nothing exemplified the alienation of young people in the campaign than the leaders debate on Sky News.(AAP: Tony Zerna )

This isn't just about the debate. Media appearances on the campaign trail tend to favour legacy formats that young people wouldn't be caught dead engaging with: breakfast television and AM radio stations.

Sure, some politicians have a team of young staffers who attempt to be cool on TikTok, but it's hardly topping the list of priorities for Mr Morrison or Mr Albanese before May 21.

Speaking of, to air a personal gripe: Neither have yet agreed to an interview on the nation's only national youth broadcaster (leaders, if you're reading, triple j's door is open). Nor have they responded to a call by the popular social media news outlet The Daily Aus to attend a debate hosted on Instagram.

Analysis from our experts:

Lazy stereotypes, untapped potential

While young people are often labelled apathetic or politically disengaged, scenes from climate change rallies and the outpouring of support for mental health awareness in recent years shows just how lazy that stereotype is.

That democratic miracle - more young voters enrolled than ever before - isn't something for politicians to ignore.

While young voters might be outnumbered by Australia's ageing population, first time voters are malleable. Without decades of rusted-on party loyalty, they present a ripe opportunity for clever candidates looking for votes.

They just need to be included in the campaign rather than left waiting for the issues that matter to them most to even be mentioned.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.

New citizens reveal how they feel voting in the upcoming federal election

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Young, angry and ready to vote: Politicians ignore these voters at their peril

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Two weeks into this election campaign, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's been nothing but typical: gaffes here, apologies for insensitive comments there, gotcha questions, photo opps, front page scare campaigns. Once we have a photo of a candidate awkwardly eating a sausage sandwich, or a root vegetable, you'll be able to call "bingo".

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Contention: You should eat fat bombs. Fat bombs can be beneficial to your health whilst being a good snack.

Persuasive techniques:
Statistics
Logos
Quote

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Greasy takeaways, clogged-up arteries... Oh, you hadn't heard? Fat is no longer public enemy number one. In fact, recent research suggests that saturated fats like coconut oil, butter and even cream can increase our levels of good cholesterol and improve "cardiometabolic risk factors, such as ectopic fat storage, blood pressure, blood lipids (triglycerides), insulin and blood sugar".

No wonder, then, that the wellness set is attempting to harness its benefits.

What are fat bombs?

So what, exactly, is a fat bomb? And does your mid-afternoon Twix count? I'm afraid not - boasting a mere 23.7g fat per 100g, it doesn't even come close to the 85% fat content we're aiming for. Yes, 85%.

A fat bomb is similar to an energy ball or bar. However, whilst these tend to be based around carb and sugar-heavy ingredients like dates and oats, fat bombs eschew these in favour of high-fat, low-carb additions such as coconut oil, peanut butter and cream.

Why should you be eating fat bombs?

OK, let's get a few things straight. Trans fats are bad.

Nasties formed as byproducts of the chemical processing undergone by these 'hydrogenated oils' lower good cholesterol, raise bad cholesterol and appear to promote inflammation and weight gain. However, according to scientists, we should still be getting at least 20% of our daily calorie intake from 'good fats'.

We need fats to absorb fat soluble vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K, and research suggests that monounsaturated fats (the kind found in avocados, peanuts and olives) can lower 'bad' LDL cholesterol and increase 'good' HDL cholesterol.

Fats take longer to break down in the digestive tract and slow the breakdown of carbohydrates into sugar, keeping our blood sugar levels stable and helping us to feel fuller for longer. According to scientific research, a spoonful of coconut oil a day could even whittle our waistlines away!

You'll still need to watch your portion sizes but, since fats are intrinsically satisfying, eating a fat bomb for breakfast could actually help you stop snacking.

What is a keto fat bomb?

You may have heard dieters talking about 'keto fat bombs' or 'ketogenic fat bombs'.

These are fat bombs with a fat content of at least 85%. They can be eaten as a quick breakfast, mid-afternoon pick-me-up or pre- or post-workout snack by those following a low-carb diet such as the Atkins Diet since they do not disrupt ketosis.

Ketosis is a 'fat-burning' state characterised by elevated levels of ketone bodies in the blood. When we eat 'normally', most of our energy comes from blood glucose (or sugar) rather than fat, a state known as 'glycolysis'. Most fat bombs are ketogenic and can be incorporated into low-carbohydrate diet plans.

Fat bomb recipe

Itching to get cooking? Making your own fat bombs couldn't be easier.
Ingredients
Essentially, creating the perfect fat bomb comes down to combining your favourite elements from each of the following categories:

Healthy fats such as cacao butter, coconut butter, peanut or almond butter, coconut oil, coconut milk or cream, dairy cream, cream cheese, grass-fed butter, ghee and avocado

Low-carb flavouring e.g. cacao powder, unsweetened dark chocolate, vanilla extract, salt or spices

If you prefer a little texture, add in a handful of nuts, seeds, shredded coconut or cacao nibs

Method

Simply combine your chosen ingredients in a mixing bowl, blender or food processor (if you're using coconut oil, you might like to heat it up a little first, in order to soften it).

Mould the resulting mixture into small balls or pour into a mini muffin tray or paper cases. Refrigerate overnight, or freeze for 6-8 hours. You can safely keep your fat bombs in the fridge for at least 1-2 weeks.

Some opt to combine boiled eggs, butter, mayonnaise and even bacon to form savoury fat bombs, but chocolate fat bombs are by far the most popular choice.

Make your own chocolate bomb by combining coconut oil, almond butter and cacao powder. Make it your own by adding sea salt, vanilla extract, cinnamon or cream, or just sit back and enjoy it in all its wondrous simplicity. Being good never felt so naughty...

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What are fat bombs - and why should you be eating them?

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Greasy takeaways, clogged-up arteries... Oh, you hadn't heard? Fat is no longer public enemy number one. In fact, recent research suggests that saturated fats like coconut oil, butter and even cream can increase our levels of good cholesterol and improve "cardiometabolic risk factors, such as ectopic fat storage, blood pressure, blood lipids (triglycerides), insulin and blood sugar".

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-23/qld-federal-election-2022-political-advertising-scare-campaigns/101009470

Contention: Political Parties should not be allowed to mislead their audiences with false information.

Persuasive techniques:
Expert Opinion
Statistics and data
Comparisons

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Public Service Announcement: it's perfectly legal for politicians to lie to us in their campaign ads this election.

(It was against the law for a matter of months in the 1980s, but we'll come back to that.)

It's especially perverse given it's been a mainstay of consumer law since 1974 that businesses are not allowed to make statements that are incorrect, or statements even likely to create a false impression.

For example, a real estate agent would be breaking the law if they claimed a property was beachfront when it was not.

So too a jewellery store that advertised a watch that was marked down from $200 to $100 when it was never sold for $200.

Just yesterday, global hotel giant Trivago was fined nearly $45 million for "highly misleading" ads that claimed the company could find the cheapest rates for rooms when, in reality, higher-priced rooms were placed at the top position in two-thirds of listings.

Trivago earned $92 million from the duplicity in just three years.

But a political party could make similar fact-free assertions to mislead voters this campaign and there would be no legal recourse.

The rewards are arguably much higher.

The keys to the kingdom go to the winner of the election - cabinet positions, policy power, and, for many MPs, even the promise of a career post-politics thanks to the entrenched system of political appointments, lobbying and consultancies.

Political ads on show at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.(ABC News: Siobhan Heanue )

Catch up on all the news about the 2022 Australian federal election from April 22 in our blog

Various parliaments, while pondering whether to legislate honesty in advertising, have been sincere in noting that people need to rely on the information they're given from the candidates seeking to govern us in order to make an informed choice on polling day.

So why on Earth has it not happened?

It did. For eight months.

We can't handle the truth

In February 1984, a law came into effect banning the printing or publishing of untrue electoral advertising with a maximum fine of $1,000 or imprisonment for up to six months.

A corporation would be liable to a fine of up to $5,000. It was repealed in October 1984, just six weeks before the federal election.

Constitutional lawyer George Williams said it was done on the majority recommendation of a parliamentary committee that had a number of concerns, including that mere opinions could be captured by the laws, and publishers and television stations would be disproportionately affected; needing legal advice before advertisements could be run.

"Political advertising involves intangibles, ideas, policies and images which cannot be subjected to a test of truth, truth itself being inherently difficult to define," the majority of the committee said in its report.

So it was left up to voters to decipher if what politicians were telling us was some approximation of the truth.

South Australia cracks the code

South Australia has long been known for being at the vanguard of electoral reform - just ask them.

The website of the Parliament of South Australia helpfully lists its achievements over the years, such as being the first part of the British Empire to cut links between church and state (1851), legalise trade unions (1876), and being just the fourth jurisdiction in the world to allow women to vote (1894).

It was also undeterred by the federal parliament's second thoughts on truth in political advertising, passing its own laws in 1985, albeit with a crucial difference.

Rather than focusing on proving what is true, it focused on what can be proved false.

"A person who authorises, causes or permits the publication of an electoral advertisement (an advertiser) is guilty of an offence if the advertisement contains a statement purporting to be a statement of fact that is inaccurate and misleading to a material extent," reads section 113(2) of the South Australia Electoral Act 1985.

The penalty is a $5,000 fine for a person and $25,000 for a corporation and an election can even be declared void if the misleading advertising is so grave that the result was affected.

Importantly, it survived a constitutional challenge based on the implied right to freedom of political communication and since then has been used on numerous occasions, even in the most recent SA election campaign.

Labor was told to withdraw an inaccurate campaign ad about ambulance ramping that claimed it was "worse than ever" when SA Health data showed it had declined.

The rules also apply to local government elections with a number of candidates pulled up in the 2018 campaign.

But it does not apply to the current campaign.

That requires a change of law at the federal level.

Political ads about a so-called death tax were broadcast across Australia during the last federal election.(Supplied )

So the same parties that are banned from peddling mistruths in a state campaign, have no such handbrake when devising ads in the contest for the highest parliament in the land.

It's a confusing state of affairs when publicly both parties so vehemently denounce the other's use of scare campaigns.

Even Pauline Hanson was into Clive Palmer over his campaign promise to cap home loans at 3 per cent.

"This 3 per cent for five years - it can't happen, can't be legislated on ... and that is not the truth," Ms Hanson said during this week's "The Mavericks" debate on Sky News.

An ad for the United Australia Party on a road in regional Queensland.(ABC Capricornia: Tobi Loftus )

The desire for change does indeed seem to be popular no matter what party one supports.

The Australia Institute said a survey it conducted found 87 per cent of Coalition voters supported truth in political advertising laws, compared to 88 per cent for Labor, 82 per cent for Greens and 87 per cent One Nation.

It's often said we live in a post-truth world but clearly the epistemic debate doesn't mean we should abandon all hope of integrity and factual accuracy.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.

Scott Morrison accused of deflecting amidst foreign policy fail in the Solomons

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It's illegal for companies to make misleading ads, so why is it OK for political parties?

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Public Service Announcement: it's perfectly legal for politicians to lie to us in their campaign ads this election. (It was against the law for a matter of months in the 1980s, but we'll come back to that.)

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https://www.aicpa.org/news/article/iwd-2022-strives-to-breakthebias-in-gender-equality

Contention:
The contention of this article in in regards to "breaking the bias" (speaking up) about Gender inequality and trying to attain gender equality. This article is aiming to break sterotypes, be inclusive, diverse and to all be equally valued, particually in the finance deparenment of this issue.

Persuasive techniques:
- Statisitics
- Expert Opinions
- A call to action

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"Imagine a gender-equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together, we can forge women's equality. Collectively, we can all #BreakTheBias." - International Women's Day Website. We have been striving for an accounting and finance profession that actively works to address and break biases. In recognition of International Women's Day, we celebrate the progress that has been made and acknowledge the work left to be done.
Representation matters
Breaking biases and barriers share inevitable parallels. Representation always matters. The more women are present, visible and respected in their professions, the easier bias-breaking becomes. In 1987, a Journal of Accountancy article noted that, although women have been a part of the accounting and finance profession since its inception in the U.S., the large concentration of women was a recent development. While some professions have regressed in representation, accounting and finance continued to forge ahead with women within the ranks. Globally, the proportion of women studying accounting is also close to parity with men.
Successes and areas for improvement co-exist
Gender equality is a fundamental human right that is necessary for a sustainable world. The global gender gap in economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment is persistent. Data from the World Economic Forum shows that it will take 135.6 years to close the gender gap worldwide.

There is some good news for women in the U.S. accounting and finance field. According to U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics 2020 demographic data, women make up 59.7% of all accountants and auditors and 52.6% of financial managers. These numbers mirror the AICPA's data, showing that at all levels of the profession - from interns to senior managers - women are well-represented and often exceed the number of men at firms ranging from two to 99 CPAs. In these firms, women make up more than or almost 50% of employees at these levels. At the director and non-equity partners level, women represent over 40% of employees and are also at least 40% of employees at all levels in firms with more than 100 CPAs.

While we celebrate these successes, we know there is still much work to be done. Women in all countries face earnings gaps. If women could have the same lifetime earnings as men, global wealth could increase by $172 trillion. Additionally, representation of women in leadership, as well as racial and ethnic diversity is lacking. Our data illustrates that only 23% of partners are women and they are underrepresented on executive committees. Additionally, Catalyst research consistently demonstrates the dearth of women of color in accounting and financial services. More data is also needed on the international status of women in accounting and finance.
Using DEI initiatives to break bias
Don't underestimate the role of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as a concrete step the accounting and finance profession can take to break the bias and foster gender equality. Companies need to drive change and deeply invest in all aspects of DEI, including trying to ensure women of diverse identities are well-represented and a culture that fully leverages the benefits of diversity is encouraged.

McKinsey's latest report on Women in the Workplace illustrates DEI's role in bias-breaking, including training to help people understand and mitigate unconscious biases. McKinsey notes that women of color continue to face significant bias and discrimination at work, while the International Labour Organization research shows that unconscious bias is a significant barrier to career advancement for all women. Businesses must equip employees, at all levels, to challenge bias and be allies. Systems and workers that speak out against discrimination, mentor or sponsor women of all backgrounds, or take other actions to advocate for them are valuable.
Association staff weighs in
Susan S. Coffey, CPA, CGMA, Chief Executive Officer of Public Accounting, the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, says, "I have seen a remarkable change in firm attitudes toward supporting and promoting equity and women in leadership. I have been fortunate to have the support of both men and women as allies, sponsors and advocates throughout my career. It's important to recognize how this kind of backing can enhance career trajectory. Programs deliberately intended to provide sponsorship and advocacy should be encouraged and rewarded."

"I am heartened to see diversity, equity and inclusion [DEI] gaining momentum in recent times," said Irene Teng, Executive Vice President of Global Markets, the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. "But it is not enough to simply talk about DEI. We must believe it, work at it and inspire our fellow women to reach greater heights. Together, we share a common future. We will have greater strength to carve that future so women all over the world are recognized for the important roles they play in society and the economy. Progress for women is progress for all of us."

"I have seen firsthand the power of DEI initiatives in both changing hearts and minds and having a tangible positive impact on the well-being and advancement opportunities of all women in the profession. If we are committed to doing better, we can be better and create more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces for women in accounting, finance and beyond," says Crystal Cooke, Diversity & Inclusion Director, the AICPA.
A call to action
Join us as we celebrate women around world. Share your stories and insights on your social media platforms about how we can work together to #BreakTheBias in accounting and finance. Also, check out our International Women's Day video created to honor the amazing women who contribute to the growth of this profession.

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IWD 2022 Strives to #BreakTheBias in Gender Equality

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"Imagine a gender-equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together, we can forge women's equality. Collectively, we can all #BreakTheBias." - International Women's Day Website.

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https://news-decoder.com/decoder-love-of-economic-growth-can-hinder-climate-action/

Contention: Economic expansion can hinder climate action.

Persuasive Techniques:
- repetition
- statistics
- expert opinion

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Decoder: Love of economic growth can hinder climate action

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Efforts to combat global warming can clash with our addiction to economic growth. Even the global benchmark of success, GDP, is flawed.

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Contention: call on the government to finally let refugees settle in Australia and move on with their lives.

Persuasive Techniques:
Expert opinion
Rhetorical question
Visual/photo

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This Sunday marks the seventh anniversary of Australia's disastrous decision to resume its policy of transferring asylum seekers offshore. Since July 2013, Australia has forcibly transferred more than 3,000 asylum seekers who traveled there by boat to camps on Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

This experiment in human suffering as a deterrent has not worked. Seven years on, more than 370 people still choose to endure horrific hardship in Papua New Guinea and Nauru rather than return to conflict and persecution in their home countries. They languish in limbo, separated from families, futures uncertain. The United States has taken more than 700 people in a resettlement arrangement with Australia, and over the years the Australian government reluctantly transferred more than 1,200 asylum seekers and refugees back to Australia for medical treatment. Some of those in Australia live in uncertainty in the community on temporary bridging visas, but more than 200 are detained in centers or hotels.

Australia's Immigration Minister Alan Tudge recently said, "We'll keep them in the hotels in detention until they exercise one of those options," the "options" being to return to their home countries or to go back to Papua New Guinea or Nauru. He later added that: "They've had their medical treatment and now it is, under the legislation, right for them to return home." But where is "home"?

Tudge's comments show Australia's continued detention of these people is punitive and cruel. But it's unlawful too. Under international law, immigration detention is not a form of punishment, but rather an exceptional measure of last resort to carry out a legitimate aim. Migrants should be detained for the shortest time necessary, and only be lawfully deported if they have exhausted their remedies after full and fair asylum procedures.

This anniversary is a stark reminder that Australia has gone from being a country that once welcomed newcomers to a world leader in treating refugees with brazen cruelty. Seven years is time enough for Australians to see the harm of offshore processing and to call on the government to end it once and for all, and to finally let refugees settle in Australia and move on with their lives.

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Seven Years of Suffering for Australia's Asylum Seekers, Refugees

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This Sunday marks the seventh anniversary of Australia's disastrous decision to resume its policy of transferring asylum seekers offshore. Since July 2013, Australia has forcibly transferred more than 3,000 asylum seekers who traveled there by boat to camps on Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2022/03/10/death-on-the-nile-box-office-bomb-kenneth-branagh-gal-gadot-armie-hammer-johnny-depp-disney/?sh=47c7129320d9
Contention: For a movie with an all-star cast, it didn't do well at the box office and might have performed better if it was released earlier.

Persuasive techniques:
Facts and statistics
Comparisons
Rhetorical Questions

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Why ‘Death On The Nile’ Was A Frightening Box Office Tragedy

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Unlike most pandemic-era box office bombs, ‘Death on the Nile’ likely would have been a hit in pre-Covid circumstances.

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Contention: Johnny Depp is a liar

Persuasive techniques: emotive language, hyperbole, quote

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ohnny Depp is "a wife-beater". This is the verdict of the UK courts. Just writing that sentence feels genuinely shocking, and yet, by now perhaps, it should not. For a start, the allegation that he was physically abusive to his ex-wife Amber Heard emerged more than four years ago, after she applied for a temporary restraining order against him following their divorce, citing domestic abuse. It should also not be a shock, given how many other hugely famous men have been accused of abusing women. Sean Connery was alleged to have beaten his first wife and frequently defended hitting women. His death this weekend sparkedonline arguments about how much the coverage should focus on the professional achievements of a man who repeatedly insisted it was fine to hit women, "if the woman is a bitch, or hysterical, or bloody-minded continually", as he said in 1965.

But Depp is a very different figure from Connery. The latter represented alpha masculinity and aggressive sexuality. No one ever said it explicitly, but Connery's defences for beating women fit in, on some level, with his image, and so that side of him was never going to be a problem with his audience. Depp, however, represented something else. He sued the Sun for defamation when it described him as "a wife-beater", something Connery would never have done, and it's why for a certain kind of fan (me), this feels like the death of yet another childhood hero.

And yet, unlike the ends of Kurt Cobain and River Phoenix, perhaps you couldn't describe this one as a shock. After the judge gave his verdict on Monday morning, Depp's notoriously virulent online followers(a different kind of fan) made sure they got the predictable hashtags trending, all proclaiming Depp's innocence. I often wonder about these online Depp fans, given that they are most likely in their 30s and 40s. Such online stanning from the middle-aged is unusual, and yet that it is Depp who inspires it says a lot about him: both what he represented to my generation, and how far he has fallen.

Depp may appeal. "The judgment is so flawed that it would be ridiculous for Mr Depp not to appeal this decision, " said a solicitor at the London law firm of Schillings, which represented Depp.

But by now, most of the world has seen the photos of Heard's bruised face, and the court case presented a relationship that had become gruesomely toxic. The court heard recordings of Heard verbally abusing Depp and admitting to "clocking" him and throwing pots and pans at him. But none of that could change the fact that the judge, Mr Justice Nicol, found the majority of Heard's allegations that Depp abused her proved to the civil standard, and that, therefore, the Sun was entitled to describe him as a "wife-beater".

It was always risky for Depp to pursue this case. Next year in the US he has a $50m (£38m) defamation case against Heard regarding an opinion piece she wrote about being the victim of domestic abuse; the verdict of this case will surely have some impact on the next one.

But it's not just the judge's verdict that has decimated Depp's reputation. For a while, his life has been absurdly over the top: when he was asked in 2018 if it was true, as his managers alleged, that he spent $30,000 a month on wine, he replied that this was " insulting ... because it was far more". So testimonies about private jets, cocaine for breakfast and arguments over - in perhaps the most memorable part of the trial - whether Heard or her yorkshire terrier had defecated in Depp's bed were titillating, but little more. More destructive to Depp's career, and more dismaying to those who have followed him from the early days, was seeing how low he had fallen: throwing phones at his wife's head; zonked out and covered in ice-cream; so riddled with jealousy of Heard's male co-stars he referred to Leonardo DiCaprio as "pumpkin head" and Channing Tatum as "potato head"; sending vicious emails and texts to friends about Heard in which he referred to her as a " flappy fish market ". Aside from everything else, Depp had always been unusually eloquent for an A-lister, with a courtly, old-fashioned conversational style. That was part of his appeal; now he was lobbing insults like a six-year-old. Somewhere, amid all the drugs and the drink, Depp seemed to lose his mind. As I looked at the photos of him, turning up to court looking like a self-parody in his perma-present piratical scarf and blue-tinted sunglasses, to argue over whether it was human or terrier excrement in his bed, I felt horrified, of course, but I also felt sad. This was not how it was supposed to go. To those watching, the verdict felt inevitable, Depp's trajectory less so.

For those who came of age in the 90s, Depp represented a different way of being famous. He complicated the narrative. Along with Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, he was part of a holy trinity of grunge heart-throbs. They were the opposite of the Beverly Hills 90210 boys, or Brad Pitt and DiCaprio, because they seemed embarrassed by their looks, even resentful of them. ( Depp reportedly turned down Pitt's cheesecake role in Thelma & Louise.) This uninterest in their own prettiness made them seem edgy, even while their prettiness softened that edge. They signified not just a different kind of celebrity, but a different kind of masculinity: desirable but gentle, manly but girlish. Depp in particular was the cool pinup it was safe to like, and the safe pinup it was cool to like. We fans understood that there was more to Depp, Phoenix and Reeves than handsomeness. They were artistic - they had bands! - and they thought really big thoughts, which they would ramble on about confusingly in interviews. If we dated them, we understood that our role would be to understand their souls.

He would never put it like this, but Depp cultivated this image. Hedecided almost from the start that he didn't want to be just a celebrity but a cultural figure. In 1987, he was cast in Fox's teen cops show 21 Jump Street, and at first he gave enthusiastic interviews about how much he enjoyed his "clean" and "slick" character, Tom Hanson. But he soon appeared to realise he wanted more and regularly derided the show as "borderline fascist", mentioning his own youthful drug experiences and how he lost his virginity at 13.

Nevertheless, 21 Jump Street was a huge hit, largely thanks to Depp. Sunday evenings for me, growing up in the US, quickly became about watching Depp bust some drug-dealing adolescents. But there were reports from the set that he would refuse to do scenes, leading to him getting a reputation as difficult, but to us fans this just proved that he had an artistic soul and was better than the TV show (although we also loved the TV show). They paid him $45,000 an episode to make him stay - a dream for a poor boy from Kentucky, the youngest child of a waitress, who had lived in more than 20 different places before he was seven and whose parents divorced when he was a teenager. But to Depp it was hell. "Lost, shoved down the gullets of America as a young Republican TV boy, heart-throb, teen idol, teen hunk. Plastered, postered, postured, patented, painted, plastic!! Novelty boy, franchise boy. Fucked and plucked with no escape from this nightmare," he wrote about the show.

Depp was supposedto be a teen idol, but he complicated the narrative by choosing John Waters' Cry-Baby for his big movie lead debut, kitschily satirising his image as a heart-throb, and spiking any producers' attempts to pigeonhole him as just another pinup. In his next role, as Edward Scissorhands, he went further, entirely obscuring his good looks - not even James Dean did that - and relying instead on subtlety and acting skills, neither of which had been in much evidence on 21 Jump Street. But he was good, or certainly good enough, and in the 90s Depp carved out one of the more interesting careers a teen pinup has ever managed. He worked with Lasse Hallström in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, Jim Jarmusch in Dead Man, Roman Polanski in Ninth Gate and Mike Newell on Donnie Brasco (in which he probably gave his best performance). And he took his audience with him; awhole generation discovered indie films and auteurs through Depp. He was that rarest of things: a celebrity who was, genuinely, cool.

He was also known as a romantic.He was married briefly at 20, then developed a proposal habit, getting engaged to Sherilyn Fenn, Jennifer Grey and Winona Ryder, whose name he had tattooed on his arm: "Winona Forever" (changed to "Wino Forever", when the booze lasted longer than the relationship. Similarly, he had "Slim" tattooed on his hand for Heard; after their divorce, he changed it to "scum", then to "scam").

We Depp fans loved Ryder. They made sense as a couple and, with her delicate gothic looks, she confirmed our image of him as a friend of the outsider (as though a gorgeous Hollywood actress could ever really be considered an outsider). We were less pleased when he started dating a model, which felt a bit lame, but at least it was Kate Moss, and at least she seemed absolutely bananas about him, clutching his arm on the Cannes red carpet. During their relationship, he notoriously tore up a hotel room they were staying in together, causing $8,000 worth of damage. But again, we told ourselves, this was just his artistic nature. And it was the 90s - destroying hotel rooms was what male celebrities did, right?

While Phoenix tended to come across as quite surly in interviews, and Reeves was monosyllabic to the point of incomprehensibility, back in the 90s Depp seemed more fun. Onscreen, he had a tenderness the others didn't; off-screen, journalists loved him, and he would drive them around LA talking gnomically about his love life and showing them cool tricks he could do with a cigarette. In the 90s, loving Depp was as uncontroversial as liking chocolate, and yet, unusually, the universality of appeal only added to his credibility. He had Oscar nominations and was the highest-paid star in the world. And yet, unlike any other actor who has achieved that - Jimmy Stewart, Tom Hanks - he was still cool. Back then, everyone loved Johnny.

Directors loved him, too, especially Burton, of course, but also Waters and Jarmusch. When I tried to talk to people he worked with for this piece before the judgment, they all saidno because they wanted to protect him. Until very recently, he had a reputation for being one of the easier actors to work with, praised by the cast and crew of his movies for his professionalism and friendliness.

After he and Moss broke up, he got together with Vanessa Paradis, and they had two children, Lily-Rose and Jack. During their 14-year relationship, Depp, true to form, was positively uxorious about Paradis, praising her beauty and becoming a Francophile, giving interviews in French magazines about how much he loved the country. France, he said to the magazine VSD in 2010, "has given me everything. A marvellous family and also an equilibrium which I missed enormously." For a while, it looked as if Depp had gamed the celebrity system: he had found a way to be entirely true to himself while still being an A-lister and living a life of peace and contentment.

Depp had always approached fame with a very clear template. Among his 90s cohort, Phoenix struggled to match up his personal values with being a Hollywood actor, and Reeves didn't appear to give the matter an enormous amount of thought beyond just doing what he wanted to do. But as early as 1990, Depp had settled on heroes he would namecheck in interviews: Iggy Pop, Marlon Brando, Keith Richards, Hunter S Thompson.

Thirty years later he would still be talking about all of them; he is, really, the ultimate fanboy. His Captain Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of the Caribbean is a pastiche of Richards, while Depp has made himself the keeper of Thompson's flame, playing him in 1998's Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas, and then posthumously bringing Thompson's novel The Rum Diary to screen in 2011. It was on this film set that he met Heard. Richards even had a small role in Depp's court case. In a photo taken by Heard to show the extent of Depp's drug use, the court saw cocaine lines laid out on the table, pirate-themed box of drugs nearby with the initials JD engraved on it, and there, in the background, a solo CD by Richards. If this had been an episode of Through the Keyhole, the mystery of to whom this table belonged would have been solved in the opening credits.

On the one hand, for a man to have the same heroes at 57 as he did at 21 would seem to prove the old adage that the age you become famous is the age you stop growing. (Depp also proves another old adage: never trust a man over 30 who reveres Hunter S Thompson.) On the other, it could also be seen as a testament to Depp's consistency, even his authenticity. Whereas most actors pick up causes and side interests the way other people go through takeaway sandwiches, Depp has been enduringly faithful to his original loves.

Throughout his career, he sought out friendships with Richards, Thompson, Brando and Allen Ginsberg, which gave him a reflected retro sheen. He seemed to be from the past, his LA a grubby 50s version, as opposed to the glitzy 90s one in which he lived. In a 2011 interview with Patti Smith in Vanity Fair, she asked him about his "mentors", and he described them, enviously, as coming from "a radically different era ... I really believe that, at a certain point, if you're born in 60-something or whatever, you got ripped off - you know what I mean? I always felt like I was meant to have been born in another era, another time." Depp tried to bring the spirit of that era to his world, opening The Viper Room nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in 1993. That year, Phoenix collapsed and died outside it from an overdose.

In 2012, Depp announced he and Paradis were separating, and he was now dating Heard. Within a year, the once most famously romantic of Hollywood stars was sending text messages to his friend, the actor Paul Bettany, about Heard in which he said: "Let's drown her before we burn her!!! I will fuck her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead." When asked about the message in court, Depp said it was regarding a fight he had recently had with Heard: "She didn't like me using alcohol and drugs because she had some delusional idea that they turned me into this said monster."

His reputation for professionalism started to crack. He delayed the shooting of the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film because of what he said was a hand injury - which Heard claimed in court occurred when he punched a wall during one of their fights - and there were reports from that set that Depp was drinking heavily and needed to have his lines fed to him through an earpiece. Depp did not deny needing an earpiece, saying it helped him "to act with his eyes".

There has already been much discussion about how all of this will affect Depp's career, and the answer depends on whom you ask. But probably one of the better clues came from Jerry Bruckheimer, who produces the Pirates franchise. When asked in an interview in May if Depp would be in the next Pirates film he replied: "We're not quite sure what Johnny's role is going to be. So, we're going to have to wait and see."

It has been a long time now since Depp was cool. The photos of him in London during the case, wearing a Rasta hat and matching striped T-shirt, brought a sad pang for those old enough to remember when he was the most stylish man in the world. His last genuinely good film was Sweeney Todd in 2007, and he has spent the past few years making turkeys such as Lone Ranger, The Tourist and a genuinely unbearable cologne advert. His loyal fans would say that it all went wrong when he left Paradis for Heard in 2012. And it's true, leaving the mother of his children for a young blonde would have once, long ago, been beneath him. But it feels that the rot started before that.

According to his former management company, he was spending more than $2m a month, aided in no small part by the fact he cashed out to star in the Pirates franchise and was, for a time, earning more than $50m per role. Even he called it " stupid money", but insisted he was only demanding that price tag for the sake of his kids. His life quickly became absurd. In 2009, Vanity Fair ran what, in retrospect, looks like the tipping point piece, in which the writer described what it was like travelling on Depp's carefully designed boat ("Orient Express by way of Parisian brothel") to his private Caribbean island. The whole thing is grotesquely over the top and crassly predictable, with Depp wanging on (and on and on) about Thompson and Richards, and sharing the advice Brando gave him about how to buy an island. "Money doesn't buy you happiness. But it buys you a big enough yacht to sail right up to it," he declares.

But if he was merely working to earn money for his children, that has all come to naught: in 2018 he told journalists that his fortune of $650m was gone. He insisted that his former managers had stolen millions from him; they claimed he had spent it. A $25m law suit between them was settled - the terms of the agreement were confidential - but that he had $650m to steal tells its own story. Who, really, can maintain any sense of reality when they are dealing with those sums of money? Maybe some people, but not fiftysomethings who idolise Hunter S Thompson.

Depp made the classic fanboy mistake of focusing only on the glamorous, external trappings of his heroes. He views Richards et al as eternal rock'n'roll figures, and constantly retells anecdotes from their hellraiser years. But all of them wrestled with the question of how hellraisers deal with getting older in a way that Depp, apparently, has not. Richards quit hard drugs in 1977 and Iggy Pop also cleaned up long ago. Thompson killed himself at 6 7, ground down by poor health and depression; Brando ended up a bloated mess. Depp could easily have grown into a figure like Richards or Iggy Pop: clean, cool, critically acclaimed, a revered cultural figure. Instead, in the past few years, it has become clear he has chosen the other option.

It's sad, and it didn't have to be this way. Of course that's true of any celebrity downfall - any personal downfall - but with Depp, it felt like a different path was always there in front of him, in touching distance. That now feels like an alternative universe. It would be easy to dismiss this as yet another spoilt, obnoxious celebrity shown up for being spoilt and obnoxious - easy but wrong, because that would miss why Depp was so compelling for so long. Until the allegations of abuse emerged, the stories that came out about Depp were, by and large, notably nice. Kind, even.

There was the time he donated £1m to Great Ormond Street hospital after his daughter had been treated there, and then afterwards visited the sick children still in there and read them stories, and, even when his life started to be excessive, his good friends stayed loyal. But over the past decade, things started to change. Where once he drove journalists around LA and France and regaled them with loquacious thoughts about life, his more recent encounters with the press have had the feeling of Kurtz barricading himself in the jungle. In 2018, he gave an interview to Rolling Stone, ostensibly about how he lost all his money, and ended up keeping the journalist, Stephen Rodrick, with him for three days. Rodrick described him as "alternately hilarious, sly and incoherent", with a "scared, hunted look about him". "If his current life isn't a perfect copy of Elvis Presley's last days, it is a decent facsimile," Rodrick wrote.

The real connection between Depp, Phoenix and Reeves was that they were all hyperconscious of not doing the predictable thing. But with Phoenix dead at 23 from an overdose, and Depp mired in divorce, drugs and legal hell, his reputation now destroyed, only Reeves, of all unlikely people, has avoided the wearily familiar templates. Only fools expect consistency from celebrities (from anyone, really), but what feels so strange about Depp to fans is how much he seemed to change, and how quickly, when he had been so consistent for so long. Or maybe he was the consistent one, with his eternal reverence for Thompson and Brando, and we're the fools for being surprised. In any case, the photos shown in court of Depp passed out on hotel room floors confirmed what most of us already knew, and the judge's verdict has carved it in stone: Depp has become a spent cliche. That was the one thing we thought he would never be. But once again, he complicated the narrative.

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The fall of Johnny Depp: how the world's most beautiful movie star turned very ugly

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Johnny Depp is "a wife-beater". This is the verdict of the UK courts. Just writing that sentence feels genuinely shocking, and yet, by now perhaps, it should not. For a start, the allegation that he was physically abusive to his ex-wife Amber Heard emerged more than four years ago, after she applied for a temporary restraining order against him following their divorce, citing domestic abuse.

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Are chicken nuggets good for you? by Sahas

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Are chicken nuggets good for you? by Sahas

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Contention: Chicken nuggets are bad for your health.

Persuasive techniques:
Expert opinion
Quote
Facts and data

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There's more to chicken nuggets than meets the eye-and the truth may cost you your appetite.

WHAT'S IN A CHICKEN NUGGET?

Chicken nuggets may look appealing on the outside, with their golden fried batter, but what's inside is far more disturbing. Chicken nuggets are made with white chicken meat that comes from the breast or pectoral muscles of the birds, and other chicken parts can be mixed in as well. Tendons, bones, nervous and connective tissues, and fat can all be ground up together before being shaped into those bite-sized pieces. One study found that chicken nuggets contained more fat than meat, "along with... bone, nerve, and connective tissue."

Of course, manufacturers and brands have varying recipes, and these are often well-guarded secrets. Some may contain more meat with fewer additives or other materials, but when you find out how chicken nuggets are made, you'll want to leave them off your plate regardless.

HOW ARE CHICKEN NUGGETS MADE?

All chicken nuggets begin as living birds who are hatched into life for the sole purpose of becoming food for human beings. Chicken nuggets are made by exploiting these birds, confining them in nearly unlivable conditions, and inflicting violence upon them.

These are the steps required for turning chickens into nuggets.

Confining chickens in crowded sheds

Broiler chickens are chickens born and raised specifically for meat production. Broilers are kept in huge sheds capable of confining tens of thousands of birds at a time. Broiler sheds typically do not allow birds any access to the outdoors or even provide windows to allow natural sunlight to filter through. Instead, birds live under artificial lighting and in such crowded spaces that it's hard for them to get proper exercise or rest.

Chickens are slaughtered when they're just 47 days old.

Broiler chickens are slaughtered when they're only around 47 days old-compared with their natural lifespans of 5-12 years, it's clear that the chickens who are killed for nuggets are essentially toddlers.

Feeding them antibiotics

In broiler barns, chickens are often given antibiotics to help them grow faster, and to prevent the infections that could otherwise sicken and kill birds kept in the unnatural conditions of factory farms. Overuse of antibiotics on farmed animals is a leading cause of antibiotic resistance, one of the gravest health threats faced by humanity today.

Throwing away chickens

Even though broiler chickens live for a little over a month within factory farms before their untimely slaughter, many of them are not able to survive even this short period. Millions of chickens each year die from a host of painful conditions. Unnaturally rapid growth, the result of selective breeding, also causes stress to chickens' skeletons and organs, and can give rise to lethal conditions like Sudden Death Syndrome.

Transport to slaughter

Transporting broiler chickens to the slaughterhouse can be a grueling trip for the birds, some of whom never make it, dying before arriving at their final destination. Chickens are roughly crammed into small crates and stacked on trucks that can hold around 3,000 birds at a time. Birds can be exposed to extreme heat or cold during the trip, and they are denied access to food and water (having already been starved for up to 12 hours before leaving the farm), adding yet more stress to an already brutal situation.

Killing the chickens

Chickens endure some of the most difficult deaths of any factory-farmed animal. Known as live-shackle slaughter, the process begins by shoving the birds' legs into metal stirrups, which are painful and ill-fitting. Birds are then moved through an electrified bath of water meant to render them unconscious before their throats are slit. Then, their bodies are plunged into a boiling vat of water to defeather them.

Sadly, many hundreds of thousands of birds remain conscious for their deaths due to improper stunning and throat-cutting, resulting in one of the worst welfare violations within the animal agricultural industry today.
Tell the chicken industry to stop boiling birds alive.
Deboning and grinding

To combat the "pink slime" myths, where images of neon-pink processed meat were said to be a step in chicken nugget-making, McDonald's posted a virtual tour of a meatpacking plant where some of its nuggets are made.

The video depicts dead chickens being deboned, the breast meat cut off their bodies. The breasts are then dumped into huge bins, which are wheeled over to a massive grinder. The meat is ground to shreds and combined with the skin of chickens, acting as a binding agent and eventually becoming an unappetizing beige paste.

Shaping and frying

The final stage of chicken nugget creation is shaping the meat paste, battering it with a tempura batter, and frying it, all using a highly mechanized process.

ARE CHICKEN NUGGETS BAD FOR YOU?

Some chicken nugget recipes are worse for your health than others, but even at the best of times, these products are not considered healthy foods. Chicken nuggets tend to have a lot of sodium, with one restaurant's serving of six nuggets found to contain around a quarter of the daily recommended intake. Nuggets can also be fried in hydrogenated oils, and they contain high amounts of preservatives, sugar, and fat, making them unhealthy choices, especially when eaten frequently.

THE TRUTH ABOUT CHICKEN NUGGETS

The truth about chicken nuggets is not nearly as golden as their battered exteriors might suggest. Like other chicken products, nuggets are the result of a sentient animal's suffering. Chickens are intelligent, curious animals who deserve to spread their wings, perch on tree branches, and roam through the dust and grass. Instead, they're confined under terrible conditions and killed young.

But chickens aren't the only ones treated poorly in the production of chicken nuggets. Workers also suffer on farms and in meatpacking plants, where they face exposure to toxic pollution, suffer workplace injuries caused by blades and other dangerous equipment, and are often underpaid and nonunionized.

Workers also suffer on farms and in meatpacking plants.

Swapping chicken nuggets out for increasingly popular plant-based alternatives is a great way to help reduce the harms arising from the chicken industry. With the proliferation of plant-based nuggets being developed by major restaurant chains and food companies, the decision to opt for a more ethical nugget is easier-and more delicious-than ever.

To go a step further and join the movement to end the abuse of animals raised for food, visit our Take Action page.

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How Chicken Nuggets Are Made, and Why They're Bad for You

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There's more to chicken nuggets than meets the eye-and the truth may cost you your appetite. Chicken nuggets may look appealing on the outside, with their golden fried batter, but what's inside is far more disturbing.

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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/apr/22/why-wimbledons-ban-on-russian-tennis-players-is-wrong

Contention: Banning Russian tennis players is a wrong decision as it is unhelpful to the tennis committee and has many other loopholes.

Persuasive techniques:
- Rhetorical Questions
- Comparison
- Emotive language/ description

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Why Wimbledon’s ban on Russian tennis players is wrong | Letters

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Letters: It is hypocritical for the tournament to ban Russian and Belarusian players, writes Bruce Hamm. Plus letters from Peter Nicklin, Fay Marshall, Prof Paul Gilbert and Stuart Kerr

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Contention:
Both parties, Labor and Liberal, should begin promising policies that are on track to reach net-zero by  2050. Despite the majority of the population wanting more action on climate policies, neither side is willing to risk an extravagant promise.
Persuasive Techniques:
Expert Opinion
Statistics
Jargon

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This is what you want on climate action. What you get runs cold

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After years of drought, fire, flood and expert reports revealing the catastrophic costs of inaction, Australia’s major political parties are falling short on climate policy.

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Contention: Humans have learned very little from the ice age as poachers are becoming a bigger reason for animals such as rhinos to become extinct

Persuasive Techniques:
Emotive language
Statistics
Expert Opinion

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A picture of loneliness: you are looking at the last male northern white rhino | Jonathan Jones

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hat is it like to look at the very last of something? To contemplate the passing of a unique wonder that will soon vanish from the face of the earth? You are seeing it. Sudan is the last male northern white rhino on the planet.

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Amber Heard vs Johnny Depp Trial-Senula S

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Amber Heard vs Johnny Depp Trial-Senula S

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https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/apr/23/johnny-depp-amber-heard-trial-recap-first-week

Contention: To inform people about backstory of the past years and whats currently happening in trial

Persuasive techniques:
Statistics
Research of both sides
Expert Opinion

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mber Heard maintained her composure throughout former husband Johnny Depp's $50m defamation suit against her last week. That is, until her lawyers played a video of Depp, pouring himself a beaker of wine, raging and shouting "Motherfucker!" as he smashed up or into the kitchen cabinets.

Heard's neutral disposition collapsed, she dropped her head and appeared close to tears.

What the jury makes of that video, filmed by Heard herself in one of the couple's marital homes, several court observers hinted on Thursday, could decide the outcome of an action that turns on a 2018 Washington Post opinion article in which Heard wrote she had become "a public figure representing domestic abuse".

Last week in the current case, being heard in Fairfax, Virginia, the video of Depp shouting was shown during cross-examination after two days of unchallenged testimony from the Pirates of the Caribbean star. During that earlier evidence he discussed his abusive upbringing, his struggles with drug addiction and alcoholism, he offered musings on brain chemistry, and a self-serving interpretation of the collapse of his career after allegations of domestic abuse surfaced in 2016, the re-educations of #MeToo and other topics.

If his defamation case against Heard was purely a legal matter, Depp's presentation could have been cut short. Instead, it was arguably also an audition, or re-audition, designed to remind the public of his charisma and why he had shot to fame at a young age in quirky, romantic roles like Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Dead Man.

But the Depp of recent years, in his Keith Richards-parodying role in Pirates of the Caribbean, surrounded by acolytes, managers, bodyguards, lesser-stature actors, concierge doctors, psychotherapists, nurses - all of whom have given supportive testimony - is a more challenging proposition.

At the culmination of Thursday's cross-examination, jurors were shown pictures of bloody daubings that Depp had made with a partially severed finger in Australia; tape recordings of the actor moaning in the bathroom of a private jet, throwing up, and recordings of Heard trying to reason with her inflamed and intoxicated husband.

"What happened? All I did was say sorry," Heard says on the video. "Did something happen to you? I don't think so. You drank this whole thing this morning? You're smashing shit."

Whatever the outcome of the trial - Heard is counter-suing for $100m - Depp's testimony, regardless of what the court ultimately makes of it has made for uncomfortable viewing as he has issued repeated apologies to the jury for the trial's exhibits. "I'll just say that I'm not proud of any of the language that I used," he offered from the stand last week, and said he often used "dark humor" to express himself.

"Functionally it's a libel trial but it's also the divorce case that never was," says Amber Melville-Brown, head of the US media and reputation team at the law firm Withers. "Theses kinds of acrimonious accusations lobbed back and forth are of the kind you'd expect in a nasty divorce."

The couple settled out of court in 2017, with Depp paying his wife $7m, Heard keeping their two teacup yorkies, Pistol and Boo, and a horse named Arrow. Depp kept his real estate assets, including properties in Los Angeles, Paris and a private island in the Bahamas and 40 vehicles. At the time, the couple issued a statement: "Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm."

To Depp, that agreement came apart with Heard's Washington Post article. Heard's lawyers claim she is exempt to libel claims under Virginia's current anti-Slapp law that provides legal "immunity" for certain claims based on speech regarding a matter of public concern.

Either way, says Melville-Brown, entering into the libel courts, whether in the US or in the UK, where Depp already lost an action against the Sun newspaper in 2020 for calling him a "wife-beater", is a high-stakes move. Depp has argued that Heard was the one who became violent in the relationship.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result," Melville-Brown says. "He is expecting a different result. This is a different case under different law with different evidence, different parties, different witnesses, but it all comes down to the same basic allegation."

Heard in the courtroom on 20 April. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/AP

In court last week, much of the testimony focused on dueling portraits of Depp: the "southern gentleman" described by a former Heard assistant, or a "monster" as both Depp and Heard came to describe his personality change under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Near the start of their marriage, in 2015, Depp texted a former security guard. "We've been perfect. All I had to do was send the monster away and lock him up, we've been happier than ever," he wrote. To one of his doctors, he said: "I have locked my monster child away in a cage deep within and it has fucking worked."

But the monster, Heard's attorneys argue, kept reappearing, while Depp has countered that Heard used the word to describe when she thought he was using drugs or alcohol - and that her perception was not always correct. "Let's drown her before we burn her," Depp texted the actor Paul Bettany in 2013. "I will fuck her burnt corpse afterward to make sure she is dead."

Early in the case, Depp said his public image had gone from "Cinderella to Quasimodo" overnight when Heard made her abuse allegations in People magazine in 2016. Depp was dropped from the Pirates franchise and has had little movie work since.

Depp's Quasimodo allegory is of course interesting, in part because the hunchback of Victor Hugo's novel was feared by the townsfolk as a sort of monster, but he finds sanctuary in the unlikely love of Esmeralda that is fulfilled only in death.

Many stories are being played in the Virginia courtroom, not least Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, but ultimately jurors will need to decide whose credibility stands up to scrutiny. Depp, at times charming and forthright but at others grandiloquent, is close to the end of his testimony. Heard will probably take the stand early next week. She has already proven herself to be an eloquent advocate for herself in depositions to the UK case.

The central legal questions of defamation, of reputational fallout from Heard's alleged libel, have at times seemed spare to the proceedings. "Even if the jury agrees he was defamed the jury can still decide she is protected under the Virginia law," says Melville-Brown.

"I keep waiting for one of them to get up and rush across the courtroom in true movie-style to say, 'Sweetie, I'm so sorry,' shower the other with kisses and say, 'Let's just walk away.' Of course, it's too late for that now. They are so entrenched in their respective positions in the court and with people around the world, they can't get out of it now."

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'The divorce case that never was': the first week in the Depp v Heard trial

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mber Heard maintained her composure throughout former husband Johnny Depp's $50m defamation suit against her last week. That is, until her lawyers played a video of Depp, pouring himself a beaker of wine, raging and shouting "Motherfucker!" as he smashed up or into the kitchen cabinets.

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Contention: The security deal with China and Solomons Islands has affected Scott Morrison's status.

Persuasive Techniques:
- Expert Opinion
- Statistics
- Images/Videos

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You've got to hand it to Beijing.

It may be playing the long game to displace American world order, but it also knows exactly when to strike.

No better time than when America's great southern ally is in the constitutional caretaker grey zone of an election campaign.

Beijing's audacity has embarrassed Scott Morrison and exposed his own recent rhetorical overreach. His claim of foreign policy superiority has been tarnished.

By inking a security pact with Solomon Islands, China furthers two objectives.

Firstly, it establishes a basis on which it could potentially build a Chinese naval base in the South Pacific.

Secondly, the agreement is a strategic hit on Australia and the United States which talked up its Pacific "pivot" more than a decade ago under Barack Obama. The US hasn't even had an embassy in Honiara for 29 years.

With exquisite timing, Chinese President Xi Jinping has poked Morrison squarely in the eye.

An electoral trump card under threat

The Prime Minister presents national security and regional uncertainty as one of his electoral trump cards.

Morrison is proud to have called for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, and for using the world stage to call out China's economic coercion. He has been vocal in his criticism of Beijing's cyber intrusions both here and abroad.

And not long before calling the election, he weaponised China, declaring in Parliament that the Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles was a "Manchurian candidate", suggesting - foolishly - that Beijing's preferred outcome was for the Opposition to win.

His political charge against Labor? That only Morrison had the courage and the steadfast guard to protect Australian sovereignty and interests.

Yet under Morrison's watch, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has spurned concerted Australian pressure to seal a security agreement that undermines long-standing regional objectives.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne was not dispatched. Labor says this was neglect.

In the context of the Solomons skirmish, Beijing has won a contest with Canberra with wits and dollars - lots of them.

Whether the security agreement is in Solomon Islands' long-term interests is highly dubious.

But it is personally humiliating to Morrison that his parliamentary flourish targeting Marles has been so quickly exposed.

More importantly, it is a blow to policy aims of the joint Australian-American Pacific project - aims that will live on whoever wins the May 21 poll.

Australia 'too soft' on Solomons

Penny Wong calls it "the worst failure of Australian foreign policy in the Pacific since the end of World War II".

This is a somewhat hyperbolic assessment but understandable given the pressure cooker atmosphere of an election campaign and the way Morrison has used China policy as a sword against the ALP.

The diplomatic corps and foreign service is less scathing but no less worried.

When Australia sent police and military personnel to quell violent unrest in Honiara, there was an obvious bind: by quickly restoring peace, Australia didn't want to be seen as propping up a Solomons government that faced legitimate civilian disquiet.

The concern now is that in signing a security agreement with China, Sogavare will see Beijing as a better guarantor for the future of Solomon Islands and his government.

Solomon Islands Opposition Leader Matthew Wale, who says he warned Australian officials of the military pact as early as August last year, suggests Canberra has been naive.

"I am extremely disappointed in Australia, the Australian government has been too soft on this issue and too trusting," Wale told the ABC.

At high levels in the Australian establishment, the view of Sogavare is not complimentary: a thin-skinned and paranoid leader with a personal resentment against Australia who seriously overestimates his abilities and strategic prowess.

The Australian hope is that Sogavare has seriously miscalculated resistance inside his own Cabinet and objections within the Solomons police force, many of whom do not want Chinese equipment or training. By dividing the Solomon Islands community and stoking political and ethnic fault lines, the worry is that Sogavare may once again take his nation to another security emergency.

The pact with China might be tested soon enough, as well as the strains in Sogavare's regime.

China looking for a foothold

China has been looking for regional strategic opportunities for years. Until now, they've been largely foiled.

Australia spent $100 million to fund an expansion of Fiji's Blackrock military camp, to outmuscle China from the project in 2018.

The same year, Australia convinced the Solomons to scrap a 2016 contract with Chinese company Huawei to build an undersea high speed internet link to the Australian mainland.

And the Federal Government had a hand in convincing Telstra to buy Digicel Pacific, the biggest mobile operator in the South Pacific, to prevent the company being bought by China Mobile.

"We were bound to lose at some point," one high-ranking bureaucrat told the ABC.

Morrison today suggested that Solomon Islands' security pact with China was greased with cash and other incentives.

"What this highlights is that over the last five years in particular, the level of interference and the level of engagement and particularly, you know, with all sorts of promises of all sorts of investments that can be very, that can be very persuasive," the PM said.

By comparison, Australia could not be "fully persuasive", Morrison said, but "Australia will be there for you as we always are, not because we want anything from you, but because we see the Pacific as our family and we want to stand by our family and ensure that they can have the sovereignty that they have earned, that they believe in very strongly."

Whether the next PM is Morrison or Anthony Albanese, the job in the Solomons is to influence how the security pact is put into operation, if it cannot be unpicked: a reminder that the regional strategic challenges will persist long after a six-week election campaign.

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China's audacity has embarrassed Morrison - and now his trump card is under threat

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You've got to hand it to Beijing. It may be playing the long game to displace American world order, but it also knows exactly when to strike. No better time than when America's great southern ally is in the constitutional caretaker grey zone of an election campaign.

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Contention:
Australia's plans to reduce climate change is barely working

Persuasive techniques:
- Public opinions
- Statistics
- Expert opinions

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As the world's climate warms 1C to 2C, some of the changes Australians can expect are an increase in food prices, competition for water amid shortages, and more prevalent floods, fires and deadly heatwaves.

That's the warning from two leading climate scientists, who spoke to 9news.com.au ahead of Earth Day 2022.

Mark Howden, Director of the Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions at the Australian National University, said at this point a temperature increase of 1.5C is "very likely" by the 2030s.

"There'd be systemic effects right across Australia, in almost every aspect of Australian life," Professor Howden said, explaining water and food shortages are just two impacts that will be felt.

"Whether that's agriculture and food, which is already being impacted negatively, that will become much more problematic and much more variable.

"We've already seen, on average, a reduction of profitability of 20 per cent when it comes to agriculture due to climate change. That's likely to continue.

"Similarly with water, we've already seen very substantial reduction in river flows in the south-east and the south-west of the country and those are likely to continue, increasing the competition for water."

Climate scientist and distinguished Professor of Biology at Macquarie University, Lesley Hughes, supports Professor Howden's stance and said at this point there is no eco-system in Australia unaffected by climate change.

Professor Hughes said the ecosystems most at risk are:

Gondwana Rainforests, found in south-east Queensland and northeast NSW

The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland

Alpine regions across Victoria, NSW and Tasmania

October 2019: Firefighters wage a fierce battle against Black Summer bushfires in Busbys Flat in northern NSW. (AAP) / February 2022: Just over two years later northern NSW was hit with a deadly flooding event. The town of Lismore experienced its worst flood ever recorded with the levee peaking at 14.4 metres. The town flooded for a second time a month later in March, with a peak of 11.4 metres. (Elise Derwin/Sydney Morning Herald)

Experts said Australians may have to adapt their living conditions by building walls to keep the sea from damaging their homes or by moving away from the coastline entirely.

In terms of wildlife, one often overlooked species serves as a "canary in the coal mine", Professor Hughes said.

This is the critically endangered mountain pygmy possum.

"The need to hibernate in winter. And snow, ironically, keeps them warm. It also protects them from predation.

"As the snow has been declining, they've been suffering."

Professor Hughes said the native marsupials have also lost one of their main food sources: the bogong moth, a migratory species also impacted by a changing climate.

"There was a real crash in the population due to drought in Queensland," she said.

That's where caterpillars turn into moths before migrating to the snowy mountains. "When the species didn't arrive, one of the species that really suffered was the mountain pygmy possum," Professor Hughes said.

"That's just one example how the impact of climate change on one species, even a long way away - a drought in Queensland - then impacted enough species a state away.

"There are species in virtually every ecosystem that you can think of that are being affected in one way or another."

Health risks associated with a warming climate

As the temperatures increases heatwaves will become more common, the IPCC warns.

"Heatwaves kill more people than any other climate-related disaster in Australia," Professor Hughes said.

"And there is good modelling to suggest that by the middle of this century, if we keep going the way we are going, we will get hundreds of people dying from effects of extreme heat."

Between 2000 and 2018 there were 473 heatwave-related deaths reported, a 2022 analysis of Australian coronial records found.

'Climate laggard': Nations best and worst on green future list

Professor Howden said heatwaves also pose a risk to the Australian economy and supply chain.

"We're likely to see a really significant increase in heat stress events," he said.

"This can cause reduction in labour productivity as well as health impacts."

What needs to be done to prevent warming?

The plan, revealed in October last year, was described by Prime Minister Scott Morrison as a "middle course" between climate debate extremes.

Technology not taxes

Expand choices not mandates

Drive down the cost of a range of new technologies

Keep energy prices down with affordable and reliable power

And, be accountable for progress

Professor Hughes said this does not go far enough.

"We need a government that takes climate change seriously," she said.

"We've got to stop treating climate change as a political issue that can be managed with political spin and minimalist action.

"It is absolutely an existential threat to Australians.

"And we need to re-badge natural disasters as 'unnatural disasters'.

"These disasters are highly unnatural."

Professor Howden said Australia needs to start reducing emissions now and work to a 2030 target, which he claims is "more important" than a 2050 one given how fast the planet is warming.

"Climate change is here and now, it's impacting on Australia badly and it's only going to get worse," he said.

"Most Australians realise that, but there's a big gap between what Australians want and what they're getting from political systems."

CONTACT US

Australians remember the fallen

Centenarian reveals family sacrifices were made to defend Australia

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Water competition, food price spikes and the death of beach culture: Climate change warning for Aussies

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As the world's climate warms 1C to 2C, some of the changes Australians can expect are an increase in food prices, competition for water amid shortages, and more prevalent floods, fires and deadly heatwaves. That's the warning from two leading climate scientists, who spoke to 9news.com.au ahead of Earth Day 2022.

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https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/02/scientists-agree-climate-change-is-real-and-caused-by-people/

Contention:Climate change is inevitable and the strongly the result of human actions.

Persuasive Techniques:
Statistics
Expert Opinion
Generalisations

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Contention: Both the Liberal and the Labour Party are underprepared to face the threats occurring in the present day.

Persuasive Techniques:

Expert Opinion
Statistics and Data
Comparison

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Both sides talk about keeping Australians ‘safe’ – but don’t say how

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National security concerns are now at the hard centre of this election campaign. But tough statements about the need to prepare for war don’t match the record.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/09/sri-lanka-financial-crisis-protesters-call-for-gotabaya-rajapaksa-resignation-please

Contention: Sri Lankan's are calling for the registration of the current Sri Lankan President; 'Gotabaya Rajapaksa' for mismanaging the country leading to the worst financial crisis since independence.

Persuasive techniques: Expert opinion, statistics, emotive language

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‘We’re finished’: Sri Lankans pushed to the brink by financial crisis

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Thousands take to the streets to call for the resignation of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa

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Contention: Fasting can be an effective method of cleansing your body both physically and spiritually.

Persuasive Techniques:
Expert Opinion
Bias
Vested Interest

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It's Ramadan, and Shazma Gaffoor hasn't eaten or drunk for seven hours when we speak. She still has another two hours to go until she can break her fast.

The practice of fasting from dawn to dusk is central to this Muslim holy month and its purpose is to to develop God-consciousness, or Allah's awareness ("Taqwa" in Arabic).

"It's the one thing that God asks of us. And that's why Ramadan is so special," she says. "This is actually a month of cleansing your sins."

Many of the world's religions incorporate some kind of purification ritual into their practice - whether it's baptism, bathing before prayer, or engaging in sweat lodges as some Indigenous Americans do.

And fasting too is common across faiths. Jews have Yom Kippur, Christians observe Lent, Hindus commonly fast on a new moon day, and Catholics traditionally don't eat meat on Fridays.

Learn more about purification and the moral life

This Ramadan, join ABC RN's The Minefield to explore the conditions of the moral life and the theme of purification.

But the Ramadan fast is definitely one of the more challenging purification rituals practised in Australia today.

"It's just like a workout," says Shazma. "It's an amazing mechanism. Your body just remembers it, just goes with it.

"I feel quite full now that my stomach has shrunk. You become very comfortable and you get used to it."

As well as developing godliness, fasting also helps cultivate concern for those less fortunate than yourself.

"There are people who live like that ... not knowing where they're going to have the next drink of water. That's a reminder of it, when the stomach rumbles," she says.

"There's the control. We can walk to the fridge and grab a drink but we choose not to. Many don't have that choice."

Why fasting is tied to purity and morality

So what has fasting got to do with being pure - or "tahir" in Arabic?

"Fasting purifies the physical body from toxins, helps discipline the soul and purify it from the blameworthy," says Professor Mohamad Abdalla.

He's the director of the Centre for Islamic Thought and Education at the University of South Australia.

"Morality is directly related to good and bad actions and behaviours," he says.

"Purity is related, in that Islam requires from its adherents to cleanse their hearts and actions from any indecent, immoral and evil act or behaviour."

It's important for your body and hands to be cleansed before prayer.(Pexels: Thirdman )

So, purification involves a lot more than just fasting. During Ramadan one must also refrain from sex during daylight hours, as well as any obscenity, vulgarity, arguments or fighting.

And purification isn't restricted to the month of Ramadan, it's integral to the daily rituals of Islam.

"For the ritual prayers, it means to perform ablutions ... washing of the hands, mouth, face, hands, and feet with clean water (without being wasteful)," Professor Abdalla says.

"Islam also requires a purificatory bath after intercourse."

How and why did purification rituals evolve?

Many of these purification rituals make absolute sense from a health perspective, but how did they become absorbed into religious practice?

Jonathan Goodman is a doctoral student in human evolutionary studies at the University of Cambridge, with an expertise in cultural practices with evolutionary consequences.

Cleansing your body with water before prayer is common throughout the religious world.(Pexels: Artem Beliaikin )

"Generally speaking, we'd expect cultural selection to take place on those practices that tend to benefit, on average, all individuals in a given group," he says.

"So insofar as rituals led to health benefits, we'd expect them to be selected for. That doesn't mean that health benefits aren't incidental consequences of ritualistic practices."

One example that Goodman offers is the mikvah in Judaism, where individuals bathe in a pool to achieve purity.

"This probably emerged because of the benefits generally associated with bathing in clean water, but that's just an assumption given the logic of cultural evolutionary theory."

But he notes that many purification practices can be just as much about social control as they can be about cleanliness.

Goodman believes that a greater understanding of the links between some rituals and their health benefits is important.

"Awareness of these parallels is an important tool for helping people understand that science doesn't have to collide with ritual, and really, that science and ritual are inextricably connected."

Not just a physical cleansing

But purification isn't just about physical cleansing, it's a spiritual purge as well, and as Professor Abdalla explains, both are critical to Islam.

"Spiritual purity means to have a heart that is cleansed from polytheism, envy, hatred, malice and other lowly attributes."

"The purification of the heart is a life-long process that is undertaken through deliberate and focused spiritual training otherwise known as tasawwaf or Sufism."

For Shazma Gaffoor, "it centres around gratitude".

Shazma says "it's easier to do the right thing" once her heart is spiritually cleansed.(Supplied: Shazma Gaffoor )

"By doing the ritual, by praying in front of God, it's almost like a cry of help and gratitude at the same time."

"You can have a good day, you can have a bad day, just like anyone else. But it's about always trying to be better than who you were yesterday.

"Once your heart is spiritually cleansed, then everything else just sort of follows suit. And it's easier to give, it's easier to be nicer, it's easier to do the right thing."

Sweetening the deal is the big celebration at the end of Ramadan, when it's not uncommon for people to visit many homes on the one day to enjoy several banquets.

"Sometimes it's like six invites. Breakfasts at your mum's, brunch at a friend's, lunch, and then tea. So you're basically filling your stomach for the feast. It gets a bit overwhelming."

But the thing that Shazma most looks forward to at the end of Ramadan is not the food.

"I would say it's my coffee. I'm looking forward to having a coffee in the morning. That's the first thing."

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'The one thing that God asks of us': How the Ramadan fast works to 'cleanse your sins'

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It's Ramadan, and Shazma Gaffoor hasn't eaten or drunk for seven hours when we speak. She still has another two hours to go until she can break her fast. The practice of fasting from dawn to dusk is central to this Muslim holy month and its purpose is to to develop God-consciousness, or Allah's awareness ("Taqwa" in Arabic).

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/23/opinion/oil-gas-energy-prices-russia-ukraine.html
contention : Energy resources such as oil, gas and coal prices are affected too much by politics and less money should be spent on them. Instead more money should be spent on the transition to better energy resources that would be better for earth. Persuasive techniques:
Statistics, Hyperbole, Cause and effect