Microsoft’s IPO has turned 40. If you had invested $1,000 in Microsoft in 1986, you would have $5.5 million today. Exactly 40 years ago, Microsoft (MSFT) made its debut on March 13, 1989, on the Nasdaq stock exchange at $21 per share. By the end of that first trading day,
The newly named Child Focused Courts will be rolled out across England and Wales, following a particularly successful pilot which saw cases in the family court resolved seven and a half months quicker.From:Ministry of Justice, HM Courts & Tribunals Service, Baroness Levitt KC and The Rt Hon David Lammy MPPublished17 March 2026
Thousands more children will receive swifter justice and be better protected from further trauma under plans to roll out a new, successful family court model nationwide.
Today (Tuesday 17 March), the Deputy Prime Minister has confirmed that Child Focused Courts – formerly known as Pathfinder Courts – will be expanded across the entirety of England and Wales.
The move follows a highly successful trial period in several areas which saw family court backlogs halve and cases resolved up to seven and a half months faster – sparing brave children weeks of torment.
Too many families are often locked into lengthy, adversarial court proceedings with vulnerable children left to bear the brunt of prolonged family disputes. To counter that, the new courts will identify any risks to the children’s welfare more quickly – for example, when they’re experiencing domestic abuse – while streamlining court processes to reduce delays.
The model will also bolster coordination between the family court and agencies, such as local authorities and the police, particularly when dealing with allegations of domestic abuse and other harms. This should reduce the number of returning cases, protecting children and families from further trauma.
The decision to extend the rollout of Child Focused Courts is a key pillar of the Plan for Change to protect children and clamp down on the scourge of domestic abuse. This will help halve violence against women and girls in a decade, tackle the backlog to repair the justice system after years of neglect, and deliver swifter and fair justice for all victims.
Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy said:
Court backlogs are not just numbers on a page. When it comes to the family courts, they represent victims waiting, families in limbo and children and domestic abuse victims left to linger in harm’s way.
That is why the national rollout of the Child Focused Courts matters so much. It will protect, support and hear the voices of children, helping family courts make safe and fair decisions without delay.
It also shows that, through innovative reforms, we can make our courts work better, tackle delays and bring down the backlog so more victims and families get the swift justice they deserve.
Child Focused Courts currently operate in 10 of 43 court areas in England and Wales, including all of Wales, Birmingham, the West Midlands, Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and West Yorkshire.
Backed by £17m in Government funding for the next financial year, the model will initially be rolled out across Northumbria and North Durham, Cleveland and South Durham, Lancashire, Cumbria, York and North Yorkshire, Cheshire and Merseyside, Northamptonshire, and Coventry and Warwickshire. It will then expand across the rest of England and Wales over the upcoming financial years.
Justice Minister Baroness Levitt KC said:
No child should have to live with fear, uncertainty or the shadow of conflict hanging over their everyday life. Behind every case is a young person who needs reassurance, protection and the chance to simply be a child.
By rolling out Child Focused Courts nationally, we can help spare more children the pain of drawn-out proceedings, deliver swifter justice for families while making sure support comes earlier when it is needed most.
This is about giving children and their families safety, stability and the best possible foundation for a healthy future.
The national rollout of Child Focused Courts is part of a package of measures to deliver swifter justice for children and families. This includes improving GOV.UK content to help parents going through divorce find accurate, accessible and trustworthy information to help them reach agreement on child arrangements more easily outside the court.
Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Dame Nicole Jacobs, said:
For too long, children and adult victims have been advocating for a family justice system that truly understands domestic abuse, listens to their concerns, and prioritises their safety.
I’m thrilled that the government has heard their calls and taken decisive action to rollout Child Focused Courts nationally. This approach has shown that when we put children first, victims feel more supported and re-traumatisation is reduced. It is important that these outcomes are at the heart of every case concerning domestic abuse.
The Family Court should be a place of support and protection, and I’m pleased that we are now a step closer to making this a reality.
The move follows a series of key changes designed to protect both child and adult victims from violence and abuse.
These include the Courts and Tribunal Bill, through which the Government will repeal the presumption of parental involvement from the Children Act 1989, moving away from the idea of the ‘rights’ of parents and instead focusing squarely on children’s safety.
The Government will also remove parental responsibility from people who have been convicted of a serious sexual offence against any child, and where a child is born of rape. In addition, children will receive swifter justice thanks to a new and improved Victims Code, which will include the very first child-friendly version of the Code, making sure children are better supported to get help and understand their rights as a victim of crime.
This Government is also investing over £1 billion as part of its mission to fight violence against women and girls, with £550 million for victims’ services, including yearly funding increases, and another £499 million for safe housing for victims of abuse over next 3 years.
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Published 17 March 2026
4,991,830 views Nov 22, 2023
Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_… Acclaimed psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of “The Body Keeps The Score,” discusses the widespread existence of trauma and how it manifests in our bodies. ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business. https://bigthink.com/plus/great-leade… Bessel van der Kolk has studied trauma for 50 years. Though we once considered trauma exclusive to veterans and people growing up in extreme circumstances, we now know it is an extremely common experience. Van der Kolk discusses the impact of trauma and the pathway to healing. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/legends/v…
Mar 17, 2026 The Brendan O’Neill ShowGo to PIAVPN.com/Brendan to get 86 per cent off from our sponsor, Private Internet Access, with four months free! Melanie Phillips – author of Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege – returns to The Brendan O’Neill Show. Melanie and Brendan discuss Iran’s decades-long war on the West, the insanity of the ayatollah apologists and why anti-Zionism is indistinguishable from anti-Semitism.
Order Melanie’s new book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fighting-Hat…
Join us for the spiked summit, our biggest ever live event, on Saturday 27 June in Westminster featuring Konstantin Kisin, Lionel Shriver, Katharine Birbalsingh, Toby Young, Allison Pearson, Brendan O’Neill, Tom Slater and more speakers to be announced. Get tickets: https://www.spiked-online.com/event/s… Become a spiked supporter to access all of spiked’s exclusive content, and get unlimited, ad-free reading and other perks: https://www.spiked-online.com/support/
Spycraft (Netflix, 2021) is actually an 8-episode docuseries (each ~29–38 minutes), not limited to three episodes.
Each standalone episode explores a specific aspect of espionage tradecraft, using expert interviews (CIA/FBI retirees, historians, actual spies), reenactments, archival footage, and clever animations/graphics to trace techniques from WWI-era origins to modern cyber/hi-tech eras.
netflix.comYou likely mean the first three episodes (the most bingeable starting block, all released together on Jan 20, 2021).
I’ll outline and elaborate on the spycraft details in those, then cover Alan Turing + related figures/topics (which appear in Episode 7), and finally give a deep dive on Stuxnet (also featured in Ep 7 as a capstone modern example).
Episode 1: “High-Tech Surveillance and an Eye in the Sky” (29 min) – Eavesdropping & Aerial ReconCore spycraft theme: If you can listen/watch undetected, you control the information war. The episode shows the endless ingenuity in passive/active bugs, from analog to satellite/drone eras. Key examples elaborated:
Episode 2: “Deadly Poisons” (31 min) – Covert Assassination. Core theme: When the goal is elimination (not intel), toxins provide plausible deniability (“natural causes” or untraceable).Key examples:
Episode 3: “Sexspionage” (33 min) – Honeypots & BlackmailCore theme: Sex + emotion = ultimate human vulnerability for recruitment/blackmail (still used today despite tech). Key examples:
Broader Series Context & Alan Turing + Others (Especially Episode 7: “The Code Breakers”, 36 min). The full series rounds out with:
Alan Turing & codebreaking (Ep 7): Traces encryption from George Washington’s cipher wheel (Revolutionary War) → Jefferson wheel → mechanical → digital. Highlights WWII Enigma machine (German U-boat codes). Turing (mathematician at Bletchley Park) designed the Bombe electromechanical device to test Enigma rotor settings rapidly – cracking ~3,000 messages/day, shortening war by 2+ years (Ultra intelligence). Episode mentions Turing’s role but note: one review flags an inaccuracy claiming he built Colossus (actually Tommy Flowers’ team for Lorenz cipher; Turing’s was Bombe). https://artifacts.grokusercontent.com/third-party-image
britannica.comhttps://artifacts.grokusercontent.com/third-party-image
winkle-picker.com
Other figures/topics in Ep 7: Early American codes, WWII Allied breakthroughs, then leaps to computer-era (public-key crypto) and offensive “code breaking” via malware.This leads directly to Stuxnet (covered as pinnacle of modern cyber spycraft).
Detailed Breakdown of Stuxnet (Featured in Ep 7 as Cutting-Edge Example). Stuxnet is widely called the world’s first cyber weapon – a sophisticated computer worm (not just virus) discovered in 2010 but deployed ~2007–2010. Believed joint US-Israel operation (“Olympic Games”) to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program without bombs or troops. hollywoodinsider.com +1How it worked (step-by-step genius):
Impact & spycraft significance:
Visual of how Stuxnet operated: https://artifacts.grokusercontent.com/third-party-image
spectrum.ieee.org The series positions Stuxnet as the evolution of “code breaking” from defensive decryption (Turing) to offensive sabotage – pure spycraft in the digital age. Overall series vibe: Entertaining, accessible, non-sensationalized look at real tradecraft (far more inventive and human than Hollywood). Experts emphasize creativity + patience over gadgets alone.
Highly recommended if you enjoyed the first three – the whole thing flows like a spy manual. If you want deeper dives on other episodes (e.g., dead drops in Ep 5 or MICE in Ep 8) or specific clips/transcripts, let me know!
3 web pages
Deeper on Stuxnet impact
Other cyber weapons examples
Nov 8, 2025 Meaningful People Podcast
In this extraordinary episode, Nachi Gordon sits down with Glenn Cohen — former chief psychologist of the Mossad, helicopter pilot, and trauma expert — for one of the most riveting conversations ever featured on Meaningful People. From rescuing soldiers in Lebanon to counseling hostages freed after October 7th, Glenn has witnessed the darkest sides of humanity — and the boundless strength of the human spirit. He shares powerful firsthand accounts from meeting newly released hostages, insights into Mossad’s secret world, and the psychology of resilience that enables ordinary people to do the impossible. With candor and compassion, Glenn reveals how people survive the unimaginable — not by avoiding pain, but by growing from it. He explains the concept of post-traumatic growth, the coping tools that saved lives in captivity, and why he believes every person is capable of far more than they think. This is not just a story about Israel, trauma, or espionage — it’s a masterclass in faith, courage, and the strength embedded in the Jewish soul.
You can find more information at: https://www.glenn-cohen.com
This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors: ►Blooms Kosher Bring you the best Kosher products worldwide. https://bloomskosher.com
BREAKING
First high-ranking official leaves the Trump administration over the Iran War Joe Kent, head of the US National Counterterrorism Center: “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
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