Six months on from the disputed re-election of Alexander Lukashenko as president, the opposition in Belarus shows no signs of giving up on its demands. Protesters are calling for Lukashenko to resign, for an end to the regime’s use of violence against its own citizens, and for the release ofContinue Reading
Andy Rain/EPA As part of the UK government’s latest budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced that the £20 weekly universal credit uplift introduced at the start of the pandemic would be extended until September while working tax credit claimants will be afforded the equivalent of a one-off £500 payment. ToContinue Reading
Most nations are currently focusing their efforts to defeat the pandemic within their own borders, under pressure to help their citizens first. But this is a global problem and governments need to work together to eradicate COVID. To avoid hardening attitudes against helping other countries, governments need to change howContinue Reading
Tensions are running high in Hong Kong after the pro-Beijing government charged 47 democracy activists and politicians with sedition under the controversial new national security law. The group is accused of running what has been described as an unofficial “primary” poll in July last year in which more than 600,000Continue Reading
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
