The changes come soon after the platform dropped fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram in the US, and mark a further right-wing shift

Social media giant Meta announced Friday it is dismantling its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes across the company, marking another major shift in strategy as it aligns with politically conservative priorities.

In an internal memo to employees, the company outlined sweeping changes including the elimination of its diverse slate hiring approach and the disbanding of its DEI team.

The move comes amid what Meta describes as “a changing legal and policy landscape” following recent Supreme Court decisions against programmes that allowed for increased diversity priorities at US universities.

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The memo, first reported by Axios, landed days after Meta abruptly overhauled its content moderation policies, including ending its US fact-checking programme on Facebook and Instagram, in a major shift that conforms with the priorities of incoming US president Donald Trump.

That announcement echoed long-standing complaints made by Trump’s Republican Party and X owner Elon Musk about fact-checking and moderating hate speech on social media.

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has been moving aggressively to reconcile with Trump since his election in November, including donating US$1 million to his inauguration fund and hiring a Republican as his public affairs chief.

On Friday he sat down for an interview with popular podcaster Joe Rogan in which he bitterly criticised the Biden administration for asking that content be censored on Meta platforms during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump has been a harsh critic of Meta and Zuckerberg for years, accusing the company of bias against him and threatening to retaliate against the tech billionaire once back in office.

Republicans are also fiercely against DEI programmes in corporate America, many of which were established in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement and the nation’s attempt to reckon with long-standing racial disparities.

In the immediate aftermath of Trump’s election victory in November, Walmart and a string of prestige brands – from Ford, John Deere and Lowe’s to Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniel’s – also scaled back programmes aimed at bolstering minority groups.

In its memo, Meta said its Chief Diversity Officer Maxine Williams will transition to a new role focused on accessibility and engagement, as the company phases out its dedicated DEI initiatives.

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram will also terminate its supplier diversity programme, which previously prioritised sourcing from diverse-owned businesses. Instead, Meta says it will focus on supporting small and medium-sized businesses more broadly.

“We serve everyone,” the memo stated, emphasising that the company will continue to source candidates from different backgrounds while eliminating specific representation goals for women and people from ethnic minorities that were previously in place.

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Early trebuchets were built on site. As they grew increasingly large and powerful, wagons carrying sections of prefabricated trebuchets were brought to a siege and assembled in situ.

A trebuchet was a medieval siege weapon, operated using a counterweight to propel a long arm, attached to a sling, which could hurl a projectile with great force and accuracy at enemy fortifications.

Invented in China in around the fourth century BC, by the 12thcentury, improved counterweight trebuchets were in use in Europe.

Historian Michael S. Fulton offered the best examination of the machines in his book Development Of Prefabricated Artillery During The Crusades (2015).

He concluded that while smaller weapons were built on site, large trebuchets were not only assembled but also disassembled afterwards for transport so they could be reused at later sieges.

Perhaps the largest and most famous trebuchet of them all was Edward I’s Warwolf.

In 1304, he ordered his engineers to build this great piece of artillery for the siege of Stirling Castle in Scotland.

Assembled by five master carpenters and 49 labourers, the Warwolf could hurl rocks weighing as much as 300lb.

Early trebuchets were brought on site. As they grew larger and more powerful, wagons carried prefabricated section to a siege and assembled in situ

The Scots, watching the Warwolf being assembled, offered to surrender, but Edward reputedly refused to let anyone leave the castle until the great engine had bombarded it, which it did, successfully levelling the curtain wall.

Jon Francis, Norwich, Norfolk

QUESTION: What did the Keeper of the King’s Conscience do?

The Keeper of the King’s Conscience was a role of the Lord Chancellor. Historically, the Lord Chancellor was head of the Chancery, a court of equity (using fairness to resolve disputes) that originated in medieval England.

In its earliest form, those who were unable to obtain an adequate common law remedy (law derived from judicial decision), or felt they had been treated unfairly, could petition the King of England directly. Rather than making the judgment himself, he would refer the case to his ‘Conscience’, i.e. the Lord Chancellor.

Up until the Reformation the Chancellors were almost always churchmen, versed in civil and canon law. The Chancellor could thus bring legal and spiritual judgment to bear upon the case.Afterwards, the Chancellors were usually trained lawyers used to the process of reasoning.

Sarah Westwood, Birmingham

QUESTION: Was Gustav Holst the first composer to write about the planets?

Before Holst, there were works that explored celestial or planetary themes, though not in such a thorough or systematic manner as The Planets (1914-1917).

Orlando di Lasso (c.1532-1594) was a Catholic composer born in Mons in the Habsburg Netherlands (modern-day Belgium).

While many classical pieces explored celestrial or planetary themes before Holst (pictured), few were as thorough or systematic as The Planets

One of the most prolific, versatile and universal composers of the Renaissance, Lasso wrote more than 2,000 songs in Latin, French, Italian and German. Among his works was In Me Transierunt Irae Tuae (Your Wrath Swept Over Me), which directly inspired the German mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) to write Harmonices Mundi (Harmonies Of The World).

Harmonices Mundi captured the Pythagorean idea of planetary motion and the ‘music of the spheres’: the philosophical concept that celestial bodies such as the Sun, the Moon and the planets form music as they move through the solar system.

Austrian composer Joseph Haydn’s great oratorio The Creation (1798) celebrated the formation of the Universe. Although the lyrics were based on the biblical books of Genesis and Psalms, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Haydn was intensely interested in the astronomical discoveries of the day.

He is believed to have read Immanuel Kant’s Universal Natural History And Theory Of The Heavens (1755), which introduced Nebular Theory, the idea that the planets coalesced from gas and dust orbiting the Sun. The theory, as refined by French mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace in the 1790s, was popular in the intellectual salons of the era.

Haydn also visited William Herschel’s astronomical observatory in Slough in June 1792. Peering through Herschel’s 40ft telescope may have provided the cosmic inspiration for The Representation of Chaos, the famous opening of The Creation.

It brilliantly captures the formation of celestial spheres from chaos, and it is clear from Haydn’s sketches that he took unprecedented pains over this composition.

Dr Ken Bristow, Glasgow

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The wheels of an aircraft continue to spin and move immediately after takeoff.
Depending on the diameter of the tires, they may continue to spin between 1,500 and 2,000 rpm.
The captain must stop this rotation before the tires settle into the box, a task that is accomplished by different systems depending on the level.

Here is a brief explanation of how the wheels of an aircraft stop spinning

Most modern aircraft have automatic braking technology and devices to stop the wheels from spinning after takeoff, eliminating the need for pilots to use the brakes, as the automatic braking system works immediately after takeoff.
Passengers can feel the resulting vibration if they are sitting in the front and hear some intermittent noise immediately after takeoff.