We’ve all seen them. Those posts shared by friends of friends on Facebook, that jaw-dropping tweet you can scarcely believe was not immediately deleted. Alongside social distancing and Zoom meetings, it seems that one inescapable symptom of the pandemic is the proliferation of conspiracy theories on social media. Conspiracy theoriesContinue Reading
Just as the European Union’s popularity looked to be on the up after the trauma of Brexit, an unusually public row has erupted over the supplies – or lack thereof – of COVID-19 vaccines across the bloc. AstraZeneca has reduced its projected vaccine rollout to the EU, despite signing aContinue Reading
Mukesh Kumar Jwala/Shutterstock As COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise and vaccine uptake emerges as a critical way out of lockdown, pressure to get more people to obey the guidelines becomes ever more urgent. Campaigns and leaders’ messages aimed at encouraging people to follow rules have tried to persuadeContinue Reading
Over 3,500 people have been detained during rallies across Russia in protest at high-level corruption and the arrest of opposition activist Alexei Navalny. Navalny was arrested on arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on January 17 as he flew in after recovering from being poisoned late last year by theContinue Reading
It is, by now, well known that the UK government has, for much of the past decade, been operating what itself terms a “hostile environment” for some migrants. Following various scandals, the hostile environment has become the “compliant environment” but, behind the name, little has changed. The condition of “noContinue Reading
A makeshift memorial to the children buried at the Tuam mother and baby home, whose identification in 2013 led to the mother and baby homes inquiry. Niall Carson/PA Mother and baby homes were institutions where unmarried women were sent to have their babies, often arriving destitute having been denied supportContinue Reading
The Cadaver Synod (897): Seven months after his death, the corpse of Pope Formosus was found guilty of perjury. Jean-Paul Laurens (1870) via Britannica Donald Trump will face impeachment in February 2021, the first time a US president has been tried twice for “high crimes and misdemeanours”. A single articleContinue Reading
The Cadaver Synod (897): Seven months after his death, the corpse of Pope Formosus was found guilty of perjury. Jean-Paul Laurens (1870) via Britannica Donald Trump will face impeachment in February 2021, the first time a US president has been tried twice for “high crimes and misdemeanours”. A single articleContinue Reading
GarethWilley/Shutterstock Under new government proposals, police in the UK will be allowed to seize homes and arrest Travellers who refuse to move from unauthorised camps. A new law which effectively criminalises intentional trespass and imposes sentences of up to three months and fines of up to £2,500 will disproportionately affectContinue Reading
Pitting authoritarianism against democracy has become common during the pandemic, with the former often being painted as a more effective regime type in handling COVID-19. The Chinese Communist Party’s own narrative promotes a version of this argument, equating China’s success in keeping cases and deaths low with the “superiority” ofContinue Reading
