Pfizer and BioNTech have just released interim results of their COVID-19 vaccine trial. Although it is not the only vaccine in the late stages of testing, the large size and careful design of the trial, not to mention the promising results, have caused understandable enthusiasm around the world. As weContinue Reading
Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock The education minister for Wales, Kirsty Williams, has announced that Welsh school pupils will not take GCSE and A-level exams in 2021. Instead, externally set and marked classroom assessments, which can be taken within a broad window of time, will be used to grade students. Scotland hasContinue Reading
Robin J Gentry/Shutterstock With Britain now in its second lockdown, and the government predicting that the second wave could be worse than the first, it’s critical to examine why there are large racial disparities in the effects of COVID-19 and what could be done to reduce these. In England andContinue Reading
Pfizer and BioNTech have just released interim results of their COVID-19 vaccine trial. Although it is not the only vaccine in the late stages of testing, the large size and careful design of the trial, not to mention the promising results, have caused understandable enthusiasm around the world. As weContinue Reading
Such has been the drama of the 2020 US election and its aftermath that opportunities for reflection have been in short supply. The BBC’s Today programme tried gamely to fill the gap providing two minutes of space for James Naughtie to ruminate on the election. But how would veteran BBCContinue Reading
Spanish football league La Liga took to social media to congratulate their brand ambassador Rohit Sharma after he led Mumbai Indians to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 title. Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals by five wickets on Tuesday to claim their fifth IPL trophy. Rohit Sharma was their captainContinue Reading
Russia’s reaction to the announcement of Joe Biden’s victory in the US elections has been very muted. Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has yet to officially congratulate the president-elect. Putin’s political opponent Alexei Navalny, on the other hand, was quick to tweet his congratulations, wryly observing that the free and fairContinue Reading
MIA Studio/Shutterstock The coronavirus crisis has been stalked by two shadow pandemics – one of domestic abuse and one of mental health. Since the first outbreak of the virus, numerous reports have highlighted a marked increase in forms of domestic violence and abuse, especially intimate partner violence and domestic homicide.Continue Reading
Miriam Doerr Martin Frommherz/Shutterstock In recent weeks, there have been controversial proposals to ask older, more vulnerable adults to isolate from society, while younger adults build herd immunity to COVID-19. These strategies have been criticised by leading figures as “practically impossible” and “unethical”. Yet calls for shielding from COVID “stratifiedContinue Reading
Mars 2020 Perseverance space mission launches from Kennedy Space Center. CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EE Donald Trump set bold goals for space exploration during his time in office – from crewed missions to the Moon and Mars to a Space Force. By contrast, his successor Joe Biden has been relatively quiet on spaceContinue Reading
