Latest news with #DurhamLawSchool
The Guardian
14-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
UFOs have earned a new name – and the right to serious study
Much as in the US, with the recent congressional hearings on unidentified anomalous phenomena, the UK government is apparently less than transparent in its handling of UAP sightings (formerly called UFOs) – as your article about the Calvine photo shows (What really happened in Calvine? The mystery behind the best UFO picture ever seen, G2, 11 February). And, as in the US, any hope for imminent and trustworthy disclosure about what these objects may be is probably futile. Those who do not a priori consider this topic ludicrous, or exploit it in a sensationalist manner, are increasingly taking a more nuanced and independent approach. If there are such phenomena, it stands to reason that they can and should be studied with the necessary rigour. The unspoken implication is that at least a small proportion of these sightings may relate to what is called NHI – non-human intelligence. If that were to turn out to be true, the consequences for our worldview as the human species would make the Copernican revolution pale into insignificance. Serious research is more than warranted. I recommend Robert Powell's new book, UFOs. It is a highly readable and scientifically solid introduction to the field of UAP studies. Your readers may also be interested in the interdisciplinary international symposium Grounding the SETI and UAP debate at Durham Law School on 24 April. It has taken astronomical research into SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) many decades to lose its stigma as pseudo-science and a reputation-wrecking endeavour. The same needs to happen for UAP Michael BohlanderChair in global law and SETI policy, Durham Law School As the person who first analysed the Calvine photograph for Dr David Clarke in June 2022, I am perhaps more familiar than most with the image. We should always remember there is no proof of where and when the Calvine photograph was taken, or who the photographer was. An Teampan mountain above Calvine is the most likely location, based on the original witness statement. However, we do not yet have an exact match. Dr Clarke's team has traced someone with the same name as that on the back of the photograph, but they deny all knowledge of the incident. The available evidence suggests that the print and negatives were not 'disappeared', as some have suggested, but simply returned to the photographer or newspaper as the Ministry of Defence claims. What has disappeared is the original typewritten witness report faxed to the MoD by Craig Lindsay, along with the analysis produced by its image analysts, the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre. There is no credible evidence to support Sean Kirkpatrick's suggestion that the photograph is the reflection of a rock in a lake, nor is it an image of a mountain top peeking through low-lying cloud as the MoD suggests. It should be noted that in 1992 British intelligence shared the photograph with the US Department of Defense, which undertook its own analysis. It would be interesting indeed if these missing documents were to be located and released. The Calvine story remains open for believers, sceptics and other interested parties to provide their own interpretations, and in this way a contemporary folklore of competing narratives has grown up around the Robinson Senior lecturer in photography, Sheffield Hallam University This is the level of reportage and analysis that the public is crying out for on 'the phenomenon' (a catch-all phrase to cover the whole gamut of data, collected over eight decades, relating to something potentially non-human among us). More please. A series of articles would be very welcome: on Berwyn Mountain, Broad Haven School, Rendlesham Forest and more. Data is not evidence, and is certainly not 'proof' of anything, but it must be gathered and interrogated CartyDublin, Ireland Do you have a photograph you'd like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers' best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
New York Times
28-01-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Woman in Disguise Took U.K. Citizenship Test for Others, Authorities Say
Among the requirements for those seeking permanent residency or citizenship in Britain is a 24-question test designed to assess applicants' knowledge of their adopted home, covering topics including rugby, the country's first curry house and the War of the Roses. The test is supposed to prove that applicants have 'sufficient knowledge of British values, history and society,' according to the Home Office. But one London woman, the agency said, saw it as a moneymaking opportunity. The woman, 61, was arrested in the British capital on Monday on suspicion of fraudulently completing the exam, known as the 'Life in the U.K. Test,' for at least 14 applicants, 'allowing them to gain an unfair advantage in their applications to remain in the U.K.,' the Home Office said. The woman wore different wigs and disguises, the authorities said, to impersonate applicants — both male and female — and take the test for them. Her motive, the Home Office said, was financial gain. The woman, whom officials did not name, was still in custody on Tuesday, the agency said. Officers received intelligence that a woman had completed the test multiple times at several different test centers between June 2022 and August 2023, 'disguising herself and doctoring ID documents to evade detection from authorities,' the Home Office said in a statement. She was arrested after officers raided an address in Enfield, a north London suburb, where officers found false documents and wigs on the property, the Home Office said. The agency added that this was 'one of the most prolific cases' of its kind. The Life in the U.K. Test was first introduced as a citizenship requirement in 2005 by the Labour government led by Tony Blair. Two years later, it also became a prerequisite for permanent residency. Over time, the test has evolved. The government of the Conservative prime minister David Cameron changed it in 2013 to include more questions about British history. That same year, an English language exam was added as a requirement for those coming from non-English-speaking countries. As a result of the more difficult — and in some cases, more obscure — questions, in combination with the language requirement, fewer people are passing, said Thom Brooks, professor of law and government at the Durham Law School who has taken the test himself. He said that he had never heard of widespread fraud in relation to the test. 'I'm surprised it has happened,' he said of the woman's alleged cheating scheme. 'Information about how the test is run is hard to come by.' Professor Brooks said, however, that testing locations were not 'overly secure.' The experience reminded him of taking the written portion of a British driver's license test. Some of the questions in the Life in the U.K. Test are niche, outdated or irrelevant to daily life in Britain, added Professor Brooks, who called the test a 'bad pub quiz' in 2013. His research showed that many British citizens would struggle to pass the test, he said. One of the questions he had come across over the years was about the height of the London Eye, a Ferris wheel and tourist attraction along the River Thames. (The answer: 443 feet.) 'Why?' he said. 'What makes you British knowing that?' In July 2020, a group of historians of Britain and the British Empire sent an open letter to the Home Office, protesting 'the ongoing misrepresentation of slavery and Empire in the 'Life in the U.K. Test.'' 'The official handbook published by the Home Office is fundamentally misleading and in places demonstrably false,' the letter said. 'The aim of the official handbook is to promote tolerance and fairness and facilitate integration. In its current version, the historical pages do the opposite.'
