When Saudi Arabian dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had not expected the outcry that would follow. For perhaps the first time in recent history, Saudi critics and Saudi supporters were united inContinue Reading
Stories about vaccine hesitancy in various communities described as Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) have led public figures to appeal to this supposedly reluctant group through video campaigns. Yet, in campaigns to address vaccine hesitancy, the relevance of the legacy of discrimination that many of these communities face isContinue Reading
Local stories often find their way into national papers. Andrew J Shearer via Shutterstock That the internet has all but destroyed the business model that has always supported journalism is not news. But what has made the news around the world recently is that the Australian government has attempted toContinue Reading
It was a short message to end a short war. On February 26 1991, Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz put his signature to a letter addressed to the United Nations Security Council: I have the honour to notify you that the Iraqi Government reaffirms its agreement to comply fully withContinue Reading
UK Parliament , CC BY-NC You may have heard about the research project which involved sending MPs emails from imaginary people, just to see how they might respond. It involved sending marginally different letters to test whether a certain type of person might be more likely to receive a responseContinue Reading
Shutterstock Conspiracy theories tend to prosper in times of crisis. When people are looking for ways to cope with uncertainty and threat, conspiracy theories may seem to offer simple answers. However, instead of making things better, conspiracy theories often make things worse. Over the course of history, conspiracy theories haveContinue Reading
In a landmark speech about social mobility in 2013, the then US president, Barack Obama, warned against the problem of growing inequality in the starkest possible terms: The combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to … our way of life. He was talking primarilyContinue Reading
Vickie Flores/EPA After the recent death of Captain Sir Tom Moore, outpourings of appreciation for his commitment to raising funds for the NHS during the pandemic have come from every corner of the UK. Moore inspired people of all ages and from all backgrounds to give to charity. However, theContinue Reading
Joe Dunckley/Shutterstock We are now approaching a full year of living with COVID-19 and the restrictive conditions of lockdown. Its impact on travel networks, particularly public transport, has prompted plenty of discussion, but much of the emphasis has been on cities, with less attention given to the countryside – theContinue Reading
In this week’s episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, three experts explain why more people are thinking of leaving Hong Kong after China’s clampdown on dissent – and the choices they face about where to go. And we hear about new research that found a new way to speed upContinue Reading
