Why Brexit compromise hasn’t defused political tensions in Britain

[The Christian Science Monitor]( A weekly recap of the Monitor's best stories. Welcome to your weekend. Today's email is a sneak peak at the Monitor Daily, which has the five top stories of the day. We'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback at [editor@csmonitor.com](mailto:editor@csmonitor.com?subject=Weekender). November 17 [Full Version]( [[headphones icon]Listen]( The action seems to be picking up along a continuum that runs from disgruntlement to despair. We hear terms like “collective trauma.” A recent mass shooting feels long ago, partly because of [an impatient news cycle]( – watch for our take on how to avoid normalization of such violence – and partly because that event has been overlaid with others that contribute to a sense of malaise. Hundreds of residents remain unaccounted for in California’s wildfire zone. We see news of [victim-blaming in Ireland]( and of human rights perhaps [imperiled]( inside the US-Saudi-Turkey triangle. Another fraught election plays out – still – in Florida. Charges mount that Facebook, a virtual second home for so many, [failed to protect its digital citizens]( from bad actors peddling influence. Where is the counterforce? In real community, some offer. It was door-knocking neighbors and local officials with bullhorns, for example, who warned many to flee ahead of fast-moving fires. What hope for those who feel overwhelmed? A Highline story by Jason Cherkis this week explains how [simple, undemanding outreach]( – by letter, by text – can subvert the “seductive logic” of suicidal thoughts for those who feel pushed that far down. One young caregiver, Ursula Whiteside, studied patients’ treatment histories and confirmed a recurring need. “Each one, she felt, was desperate for any form of help or kindness.” The newsletter Daily Good [offered another balm]( this morning. “Showing respect to individuals,” one source declared, “has a kind of healing power.” ~ Now to our five stories for your Friday, including a look at expanding long-held social definitions in the US, at reframing agricultural innovation in Ghana, and at harnessing the power of migration in Canada. [ Clayton Collins Daily Edition Editor [[twitter] @CSMDailyClay]( [Daily facebook share]( [Daily twitter share]( [Daily email share](mailto:?subject=I+think+you%27ll+like+this+article+from+the+Monitor+Daily&body=Here's the article on CSMonitor.com:+%0A%0A+Helping one another to confront a malaise+%0A%0A+ can try the Monitor Daily free for a week: 1. Why Brexit compromise hasn’t defused political tensions in Britain Simon Dawson/Reuters Theresa May’s deal on Brexit sought to balance national sovereignty and economic interdependence. Reactions to it raise a question: Is that even possible in today’s Britain? – Clayton The 30 Sec. Read It has been more than two years since British voters chose in a referendum to leave the European Union. This week, the government unveiled the Brexit deal it has negotiated with its EU partners, but the agreement has only exacerbated the bitter discord that has long dominated domestic debate over Britain’s relationship with Europe. Brexiters say they want to “take back control” of British affairs from EU bureaucrats in Brussels and to restore sovereignty to Parliament at Westminster. But the economic consequences of a complete break from the EU, after 45 years of union, would be disastrous, almost everyone agrees. Prime Minister Theresa May says that her compromise deal wins back as much sovereignty as possible while maintaining the country’s economic equilibrium. But her “half-in-half-out” deal with Brussels has satisfied nobody in the UK, neither those who want to leave the EU nor those who would rather stay. Tensions between a desire for political sovereignty and the strength of Britain’s economic ties with the EU are no closer to being resolved. By Simon Montlake [[twitter]@sjmontlake]( [Read 5 min.]( ( 1019 words ) [Daily facebook share]( [Daily twitter share]( [Daily email share](mailto:?subject=I+think+you%27ll+like+this+article+from+the+Monitor+Daily&body=Here's the article on CSMonitor.com:+%0A%0A+Why Brexit compromise hasn’t defused political tensions in Britain+%0A%0A+ can try the Monitor Daily free for a week: 2. Democrats’ reliance on seniority clashes with enthusiasm for fresh faces This piece looks at a paradox: Democratic voters skew younger, and the party prides itself on its young up-and-comers, but its leadership on Capitol Hill is long entrenched. That may be about balancing faith in experience with trust in new players. – Clayton The 30 Sec. Read On the Republican side, House members can advance quickly in committees because their chairmanships are subject to term limits. It’s what helped Paul Ryan grab the Budget Committee gavel when he was in his mid-40s and then become the youngest House speaker in more than a century. In contrast, Democrats rely on seniority – and Americans are about to see some senior Democrats take over, including octogenarians Maxine Waters of California, expected to become the next chairperson of the Finance Committee, and Nita Lowey of New York, expected to head the powerful Appropriations Committee. Yet a growing chorus of Democratic voices are calling for fresh leadership even as the caucus looks set to elect the same trio of septuagenarian leaders, including Nancy Pelosi in the top position, when they return from Thanksgiving recess. The challenge is that the upper rungs of the ladder have been filled for so long that no one comes close to matching Ms. Pelosi’s experience. “I’d like to see more younger, newer members at the table,” says Rep. Eric Swalwell (D) of California. “But as I see it, right now, we’re in the ninth inning, it’s a tight game, we want our best in there.” By Francine Kiefer [[twitter]@kieferf]( [Read 6 min.]( ( 1431 words ) [Daily facebook share]( [Daily twitter share]( [Daily email share](mailto:?subject=I+think+you%27ll+like+this+article+from+the+Monitor+Daily&body=Here's the article on CSMonitor.com:+%0A%0A+Democrats’ reliance on seniority clashes with enthusiasm for fresh faces+%0A%0A+ can try the Monitor Daily free for a week: A deeper look 3. As US wrestles with definition of ‘sex,’ pushback against trans protections Steven Senne/AP Questions about personal liberty and self-determination abound on both sides of this argument – for transgender people and for those who believe that gender is inherently binary and fixed at birth. – Clayton The 30 Sec. Read It’s been in many ways a remarkable past few years for transgender people, and much of American society seems to be inching toward inclusion. At least 20 states explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity, and on Election Day, 68 percent of Massachusetts residents chose to keep its civil rights protections in place. The Trump administration, however, has pushed back. In a memo, the administration proposed a legal definition of sex in federal civil rights laws that was in many ways the precise opposite. A person’s identity as a male or female is rooted in “immutable biological traits,” the administration said, and proven by the sex marker assigned on a person’s birth certificate. In many ways, the word “immutable” underlies much of the national conversation about transgender and gender nonconforming people today. To supporters of transgender rights, the idea of immutable biological sex is something bound to evolve, just as views of homosexuality did a decade ago. For conservatives, the immutability of sex has deep roots in Western ideas of an ordered reality. As those two views clash, US society is struggling to find common ground. “There is a very large cultural anxiety around gender fluidity,” says Kyle Velte, [professor]( at the University of Kansas School of Law in Lawrence. “But where does that cultural anxiety come from? Why are we so scared of gender fluidity?” By Jasmine Heyward By Harry Bruinius [Read 12 min.]( ( 2618 words ) [Daily facebook share]( [Daily twitter share]( [Daily email share](mailto:?subject=I+think+you%27ll+like+this+article+from+the+Monitor+Daily&body=Here's the article on CSMonitor.com:+%0A%0A+As US wrestles with definition of ‘sex,’ pushback against trans protections+%0A%0A+ can try the Monitor Daily free for a week: 4. Fertilize by drone, till by text: Making tech work for Africa’s farmers Stacey Knott Sometimes we talk about automation and job rates as though they’re in a zero-sum game. But successful innovation does more than develop new technology; it figures out how to boost workers, too. – Clayton The 30 Sec. Read Uber for tractors? That’s the premise of TROTRO Tractor, a company in Ghana. And in communities where small farms do most work manually and would struggle to buy their own vehicle, it hopes to be a game changer. Farmers in Africa tend to have access to significantly less mechanized equipment than those elsewhere. Today there is a push to change that, from TROTRO’s tractors to fertilizer drones, all of which could boost harvests and bigger-picture food security. But here, as around the world, mechanization also comes with fears about jobs being replaced by machines. Half of the continent depends on agriculture for all or part of their livelihood, according to the United Nations, and unlike in many other regions, that number is holding steady. But with the right planning, taking specific communities’ needs into account, many are hopeful that mechanization will yield better jobs and more of them. TROTRO has an ultimate aim, CEO Kamal Yakub says with a grin. “We are going to put the cutlass and hoe in the museum so that our children will come in 20 years and say, ‘What's the use of this?’ ” By Stacey Knott [Read 5 min.]( ( 1163 words ) [Daily facebook share]( [Daily twitter share]( [Daily email share](mailto:?subject=I+think+you%27ll+like+this+article+from+the+Monitor+Daily&body=Here's the article on CSMonitor.com:+%0A%0A+Fertilize by drone, till by text: Making tech work for Africa’s farmers+%0A%0A+ can try the Monitor Daily free for a week: 5. In refugee flow, Canada finds a surprising solution to a labor shortage Yes, refugees need help, but sometimes they also can lend a helping hand. A program that places skilled refugees in jobs in Canada helps resettle uprooted people and may help fill a labor shortage there. – Clayton The 30 Sec. Read Nagham Abu Issa is a Syrian refugee. She is also a valuable employee. She has a degree from Damascus University in English literature, and she has big dreams: to become a chief operating officer or even start her own company one day. She hopes to pursue that dream in Canada through Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB), an American NGO that has started pilots in Canada and Australia to match a small number of refugees based in Lebanon and Jordan with employment opportunities abroad. Its goal: to forge new pathways for refugees to be recognized for what they can bring to a country, not for the state of the countries they were forced to leave. Heather Segal, a Toronto immigration lawyer, is working pro bono with TBB because she says too many skilled refugees stagnate while nations like Canada face labor shortages. “Why are we obviating a group of educated, skilled people because their country fell apart?” she asks. “There is a gap here that needs to be addressed…. We need creative solutions for the refugee system in the 21st century.” By Sara Miller Llana [[twitter]@sarallana]( [Read 5 min.]( ( 1176 words ) [Daily facebook share]( [Daily twitter share]( [Daily email share](mailto:?subject=I+think+you%27ll+like+this+article+from+the+Monitor+Daily&body=Here's the article on CSMonitor.com:+%0A%0A+In refugee flow, Canada finds a surprising solution to a labor shortage+%0A%0A+ can try the Monitor Daily free for a week: The Monitor's View A legal takedown of genocide The 30 Sec. Read A United Nations-backed court established on Friday that the Khmer Rouge had indeed committed genocide in Cambodia during its reign. Two surviving leaders of the group were convicted of mass killings committed in the late 1970s. The verdict should ring loudly everywhere as a reminder to prevent more genocide. For many, that future is now. In Myanmar, the regime has continued a campaign of genocide against Rohingya Muslims. In Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State was defeated only last year after trying to eliminate the Yazidi minority. In China, members of the Uyghur community say Beijing is committing “cultural genocide,” detaining tens of thousands of the minority Muslims. Verdicts like those against the Khmer Rouge leaders are rare. Yet they help affirm progress in holding people accountable for violations of human rights. More than 80,000 Cambodians attended the trials of the Khmer Rouge leaders over four years, bearing witness to the application of a law that holds true far beyond their borders. This latest affirmation of that law can now more easily help protect other peoples facing genocide. It might also make leaders tempted to commit mass slaughter think twice. By the Monitor's Editorial Board [Read 2 min.]( ( 391 words ) [Daily facebook share]( [Daily twitter share]( [Daily email share](mailto:?subject=I+think+you%27ll+like+this+article+from+the+Monitor+Daily&body=Here's the article on CSMonitor.com:+%0A%0A+A legal takedown of genocide+%0A%0A+ can try the Monitor Daily free for a week: A Christian Science Perspective ( [About this feature]( ) Reaching At a time when questions of identity are front and center, today’s column is a poem that offers a deeper, spiritual sense of what we all are as God’s eternally loved children. By Paula Jackson [Read min.]( ( 107 words ) [Daily facebook share]( [Daily twitter share]( [Daily email share](mailto:?subject=I+think+you%27ll+like+this+article+from+the+Monitor+Daily&body=Here's the article on CSMonitor.com:+%0A%0A+Reaching +%0A%0A+ can try the Monitor Daily free for a week: Viewfinder A festival of refreshment Tuareg and Wodaabe herders join some 50,000 nomads in the remote city of Ingall, Niger, for the three-day Cure Salée festival. As the last rains of the season pass, thousands of herders flock to the salty land every year for this unique meeting of rural nomads. Many come from the Sahel to refresh and revitalize their livestock, share travel experiences, trade, and, in recent years, receive humanitarian aid. Ingall’s oases and saline soils provide food and fresh water for tired camels and cattle before they travel south to prepare for the dry season. (For more images, click on the blue button below.) –Juan Haro, contributor Juan Haro [View gallery]( ( The illustrations in today's Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. ) A LOOK AHEAD Have a good weekend, and come back Monday. On the Move, our series about migration, continues from Niger. We’ll look at the progress and pitfalls of the European Union’s effort to tempt people away from the migrant trade through operations at its source. Also, if I say “welcome to the bundle,” a few thousand of you will know what I mean. Now that you’re reading the digital Daily to supplement your print Weekly, consider a neat shortcut: [Read here about how to quickly add a home-screen bookmark]( to your iPhone or Android phone. Puts you a thumb tap away from the current Daily (even before the email notification goes out). [ Clayton Collins Daily Edition Editor [[twitter] @CSMDailyClay]( The Christian Science Monitor is a trademark of The Christian Science Publishing Society, registered in the United States and in other countries. The Christian Science Monitor The Christian Science Monitor210 Massachusetts Ave, Boston, MA, 02115-3195, United States © 2018 The Christian Science Publishing Society [Privacy]( [Unsubscribe]( Profile]( [Email Preference Center](