The Know Daily - Tuesday 2 April 2024

_{Read in 5m 41s ∙ Listening to Beyoncé ∙}

We’re back after the bank holiday break with some pretty incredible pictures of our planet, via the World Nature Photography awards 2024. We loved this image of winter in Iceland  👇 but the other winning photos showcasing wildlife on land and in the oceans are well worth a scroll. 

⚖️ The assisted dying debate

Scotland could become the first part of the UK to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults, after a bill was put before Holyrood on Thursday. It comes as calls for a UK-wide law change have intensified in recent months.

First things first - what does the law say now?
Assisting or encouraging someone to take their own life is illegal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - and while it is not a specific offence in Scotland, assisting someone’s death can leave a person open to a murder charge, The Independent explains.

Around the world, a number of countries have legalised some form of assisted dying. This includes Switzerland, Canada, Spain and 11 US states.

And some people want the UK to change its laws?
Yep. Calls for legalisation have intensified in recent months, with a number of high-profile figures - including TV presenter Esther Rantzen - calling on parliament to change the law. “We need the comfort and reassurance of knowing we will have the choice, if and when the time comes,” Rantzen said in a message.

On the other side, some faith groups, disability rights campaigners and medical professionals argue that legalisation could lead to vulnerable people feeling pressured to end their lives, notes The Guardian. 

According to the paper, opinion polls consistently show that around 70% of the public would support making it legal for terminally ill adults to access assisted dying.

So what’s happening in Scotland?
On Thursday, the Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur laid a bill before the Scottish parliament which, if passed, would legalise assisted dying in certain scenarios. As the BBC explains, a patient could only request medical assistance to end their life if they had a terminal illness and had been ruled “mentally fit” by two doctors.

The bill is expected to be debated this autumn and potentially voted on next year, when MSPs would be given a free vote on the matter.

What’s the mood in Westminster?
Labour leader Keir Starmer has said he is “committed” to allowing a vote on decriminalising assisted dying, should he become prime minister at the next election. The matter was last put before parliament in 2015, when MPs voted against changing the law.

💬 Confidence and creativity

Girls who are called “cute” rather than “cool” are less inspired to be creative, according to a recent study looking at gender bias in language. 

Go on…
The study - commissioned by the toy brand LEGO - polled over 61,000 parents and children across 36 countries, and found notable reported differences in how girls and boys were described, encouraged and listened to. Words like “brave” and “cool” were twice as likely to be attributed to boys, the study found, while girls were seven times more likely to be called “sweet” or “cute”. 

Over half of all children surveyed felt that adults listened more to boys’ creative ideas than to girls’, with the majority of parents agreeing that male creativity was taken more seriously by society, Forbes noted.  

Why is this so problematic? 
According to parenting researcher Jennifer Wallace, this biased language plays a role in limiting girls’ creative confidence and may even “restrict their opportunities in male-dominated fields”. 

Two-thirds of girls aged 5-12 said the language they heard made them worry about making mistakes and feel like they shouldn’t experiment - with this trend more pronounced as they got older and “societal pressures set in”, said The Times. 

So what’s the takeaway?
Simply changing our language when talking to and describing children can have a big impact, says Wallace, as “what we say early sets in deep”.

The report offered an easy way to make the change, finding that when girls were given “growth-mindset compliments” - such as being called “imaginative” or “inspiring” - they felt “uplifted”.

👏 Health tech: Tens of thousands of people living with type 1 diabetes in England are set to receive an “artificial pancreas” in a world-first rollout of the technology by the NHS. 

🇹🇷 Turkey votes: Turkey’s main opposition party scored a sweeping victory in local elections on Sunday, dealing a “serious setback” to President Erdoğan.

🚸 Childcare expansion: Parents and carers of 2-year-olds are now eligible for 15 hours of funded childcare per week, under a govt plan that has been “welcomed by parents” but faced criticism over funding.

🗣️ Common name: Everyone in Japan will have the same surname by 2531, according to a new study forming part of a campaign to allow married couples to use separate surnames.

🌴 Tuesday wanderlust: A new travel report from the Post Office has revealed the cheapest destinations for 2024 - though it’s worth noting it doesn’t take plane tickets into account…

Help your friends feel better about the news - and support The Know at the same time. Get them to sign up using your personalised code 👉 https://theknowmedia.beehiiv.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER 👈 and we’ll reward you with goodies from HURR, Grubby and CRU Kafe!

The Know is an independent media company on a mission to help everyone start their day feeling informed and hopeful. We only recommend things we genuinely love but sometimes we make money out of the links and content we share. This directly supports keeping our journalism free for all.

Here are four ways you can support our work:

⭐ Get clicking - this tells our partners that readers are interested in our content. Let’s get started with this one (or maybe this one!).

⭐ Become a friend of The Know - back independent, female-founded journalism for just £1.25 a week. You’ll also get exclusive editions, supporter-only giveaways and more.

⭐ Add us to your contacts or safe sender list - this makes sure we reach your inbox (and everyone else’s) each morning.

⭐ Shop our merch - support The Know and look great while doing it!

Trivia answer: C) The BBC World Service said that Big Ben would instead be known as Digital Dave - and it didn’t go down too well. Click here for more historic pranks!

Need fewer emails? Click here to hear from us once a week.