Latest news with #SusanStokes
Daily Mail
17 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Snake's alive! Fifth monster python is caught in British countryside - as police warn locals to keep pets on a lead because 'small dogs would be a nice meal for them'
A fifth monster python has been found in the British countryside by terrified locals, prompting a chilling warning by police. Four of the snakes were found on June 13 and 14, and a fifth was spotted by a shocked motorist last Saturday in the Twigmoor and Cleatham areas of north Lincolnshire. One of the snakes, belonging the world's longest species of snake, was discovered by Rob Stokes, 45, who runs the reptile centre, The RSG Reptiles, and his son George, 15, in some bushes near his van after being called in by police to help search for them. This has sparked a warning from Humberside Police to dog walkers to keep their pets on leads. The exotic snakes, which can weigh up to 75kg and normally feast on monkeys, pigs, and deer in the wild, are believed to have been callously abandoned by a pet owner who no longer wanted them. Mr Stokes, who runs the business with wife Susan, 41, said: 'They're all reticulated pythons, the longest species of snake in the world, they're pretty impressive. 'The first one was 18ft and 50kg. They're clearly somebody's pet and unfortunately people struggle with money and they did the wrong thing and dumped them. 'They dumped them in two locations, three in one and two in another. They were basically left to fend for themselves in the woods. 'In terms of risk to the public, they were pretty low. If someone was poking it or interfering with it, there is a possibility of it turning around and biting. It would bite and let go. 'Snakes don't want to attack, the last thing they want to do is bite. The biggest risk is people's pets and wildlife. Small animals, small dogs would be a nice meal for them. 'I found one in the bushes myself, George and I went to have a look around the bushes and found one ourselves. It was in the bushes near our van. 'The first four weren't too bad, one lump we needed to check out, but they were mainly just dehydrated. 'They had mites which is not uncommon but we've had to treat them for that. We usually treat them with a flea treatment, which can be quite costly at £30ish a bottle. 'We did think we had got them all but felt there could be one more outstanding. When we got the call from the police for the fifth one, we were quite happy but horrified it was left out there. 'This fifth one has some respiratory issues and has maggots on it as well. It's very difficult for these animals to get rid of parasites if there's no water for it to swim in. 'We've had a warm couple of weeks here which would've helped but the night temperature drop off isn't good for them. 'Such a big snake needs a lot of antibiotics, we have to give it an antibiotic injection every three days. It's a long process and will take a month, maybe even longer.' The 45-year-old says they are now faced with a £15,000 bill to build suitably-sized cages for the huge beasts. He added: 'We've now got to build some massive enclosures for them. We're fundraising for them and the vet bills as it gets expensive when you add it all up. 'I think they're going to stay with us, they just need a forever home. 'We're reptile people so we're quite happy for them to stay with us. If we do re-home, they'll be going to a professional, not a hobby keeper. 'These animals are huge. An 18ft snake needs ideally an 18ft enclosure. The bigger ones get dumped first as they're the most expensive. 'They're really simple to look after, you spot clean it after they go to the loo. And then you clean it once a month. You probably spend £20. 'If you hit hard times, that becomes a big chunk. The cost of everything has gone up in the last few years, your life can change overnight. 'There's loads of us out there in the reptile community who can help out, dumping them in the bushes like that was unacceptable.' Humberside Police said its rural task force was investigating offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 A police spokesperson said: 'Inquiries are continuing to establish the circumstances surrounding the reports and identify those involved, and we would appeal to anyone who has information to contact us.' At the time the first four were discovered, the force said previously: 'They are believed to be Reticulated Pythons. 'The reticulated Python is the longest species on earth. It is a non-venomous constrictor snake. In the wild, they will kill their prey by biting it and then coiling around it to literally squeeze the life out of it. 'In the event that you find one in the wild in the UK, please call police immediately. Do not try to catch it yourself, keep an eye on it and give a What3Words location to the police so it can be assessed by an expert and collected appropriately. 'We would advise keeping dogs on a lead in the areas where these snakes were found. 'These Snakes will not attack you. They will only try to defend themselves if they feel threatened.'
![[Kaushik Basu] Economic inequality and the erosion of democracy](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwimg.heraldcorp.com%2Fnews%2Fcms%2F2025%2F06%2F22%2Fnews-p.v1.20250622.e73a4a8556034100b5e0fe1c64431c88_T1.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
![[Kaushik Basu] Economic inequality and the erosion of democracy](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fall-logos-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fkoreaherald.com.png&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Korea Herald
4 days ago
- Politics
- Korea Herald
[Kaushik Basu] Economic inequality and the erosion of democracy
There is growing concern about the erosion of democracy and the capture of power by authoritarian figures around the world. This is happening not just by individuals capturing power by force and military coup, but by politicians who come to power by democratic means, that is, by winning elections, and then turn authoritarian, capturing the nation's institutions and damaging freedom of speech and press. The Democracy Report 2025, produced by the V-Dem Institute, the most dependable data source on world democracy shows that the level of democracy for the average person in the world now has dropped to the level seen in 1985, and freedom of speech over the last year has declined in 44 countries. By their calculation, the world now has 88 democracies and 91 autocracies. The capture of power by autocrats in so many countries is tragic news for the common person, because this means an erosion of the common person's power -- economic and political -- and the loss of voice of the masses. After so many decades of progress, why is the world turning back on democracy? For such a major political and social change, the underlying factors will be complex, and there will no doubt be a lot of writing and analysis. However, I have a hypothesis that I want to share with the reader. My conjecture is that the core answer lies in economics. It is the high level of economic inequality that is causing the democratic backsliding. Global inequality has been high for a long time but there is a new dimension to this in today's world of digital connectivity, social media and online platforms. In the past, the super-rich did have more houses, cars, yachts and maybe even airplanes. In today's digitally-advanced world the super-rich have all that but, in addition, they can control platforms and exert influence in ways that they could not earlier. Anthropologists have written about how, in village meetings, when the rich landlord walks in, ordinary village people who were earlier voicing their opinions, go silent. With the world linked up digitally, this is now happening at a global level. Ordinary people are losing their voice with a handful of billioinaires controlling most of the levers of influence. There are studies that reveal a clear connection between economic inequality and democracy. A recent paper by Eli Rau and Susan Stokes, published in PNAS 2025, using large-scale cross-national data finds that economic inequality is one of the strongest predictors of the erosion of democracy. They do their analysis using Gini coefficient as the measure of inequality. In economics there are different ways of measuring inequality. The Gini coefficient is an average measure of inequality across the whole population. A different kind of measure is to take the gap between the average income of super-rich people, such as the richest 0.1 percent of the population, and the average income of the remainder of the population. Let me call this the 'inequality gap'. My expectation is that the inequality gap will have an even higher correlation with the erosion of democracy, since this measure captures the power of the few richest people to grab influence and voice. We are seeing this happen in the United States, and in India, two countries that were known for their strong democratic tradition, but have seen a steady erosion in recent times. The gap between the ultra rich and the average population has been rising alarmingly in recent times. A PEW Research Center study found that in the US, in 1983, the upper income families had 28 times as much wealth as the lower-income families. By 2016 this ratio rose to the shocking level of 75. A similar worsening is visible between the upper-income families and middle-income families. There is no surprise that a vast majority of people in the US are feeling disenfranchised, which is causing political turmoil. It is time for civil society across the world to get together and fight for greater equality. This will be good for democracy but even if that did not happen, we have to fight the inequality as something morally wrong in itself. Clearly, the level to which inequality has risen is unacceptable. An OXFAM study published on May 20, 2025, notes that the 10 richest people in the world saw their wealth rise by 365 billion dollars in one year. To put that in perspective, this is four times the total income earned in one year by the entire population of Tanzania -- roughly 66 million people. Clearly, this is unacceptable. Surely, a time will come when our future generations looking back at today will be shocked that we tolerated this level of inequality, in the same way that we are shocked that our ancestors tolerated the practice of slavery. Those with vested interest try to stop all activism to curb excess inequality by using a host of false analogies. They argue that to take corrective action against inequality is the same as Communism, which clearly failed. They argue that inequality is a reflection of some people's ability to work hard, ignoring the fact much of life's inequality occurs at the time of birth. I want to acknowledge and emphasize that entrepreneurship and the profit-motive are major drivers of human progress. We must not make the mistake that Communist countries made by nationalizing all productive activity. We must allow the market to function and individuals to make profit, but by having a much higher marginal tax rate for the super-rich we can create a more fair world without damaging enterprise and growth. I discuss this in my book Reason to be Happy (Korean translation by Influential Inc, 2024). This has been a growing problem for some time. Today, with the world entering a new authoritarian age, with manipulated hatred of marginalized people, of migrants struggling to make a living and survive, and with wealth, voice and power concentrated in a few hands, we need to return to the message of early thinkers from around the world who had called for democracy, equity and justice.
