Is time up for WeChat in the US? Boumen Japet/Shutterstock Chinese Americans are waiting nervously to hear whether the Trump administration’s efforts to ban the app WeChat in the US will be successful. Donald Trump issued an executive order on August 6 placing the Chinese-owned app in the firing line,Continue Reading
After a brief return, freedom of movement has been once again withdrawn from people who live in the north of England. For residents of Manchester and Newcastle, meeting people from other households is once again prohibited, and in Liverpool, pubs and bars have been closed entirely except if they operateContinue Reading
aelitta/Shutterstock UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently suggested that coronavirus infections are higher in the UK than Germany or Italy because Britons love freedom more, and find it harder to adhere to control measures. Unsurprisingly, this view has attracted a lot of criticism. Some have argued that Germany and ItalyContinue Reading
As the US election campaign nears its end point, one thing about the result is certain: a lot of people won’t vote. Turnout at the 2016 US presidential election was only 60.1% – even without a pandemic. In 2020 there is a risk that COVID-19 will further undermine turnout. TheContinue Reading
Nagorno-Karabakh is engulfed in the flames of war. Half of its population has fled, while the remaining families cower in basements as artillery and drones destroy their houses and cultural institutions. A ceasefire on October 10, agreed after ten hours of negotiations in Moscow between the warring sides of ArmeniaContinue Reading
By awarding the 2020 Nobel peace prize to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), the Nobel committee said that it wanted to “turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger”. Among its reasons for awarding the prize wereContinue Reading
Shutterstock Scientific analysis of COVID-19 is dominated by medical and pharmaceutical questions of vaccines and risk minimisation. But meanwhile, social scientists must track the emerging social orders where new conventions and senses of self and kinship are forming. They are finding that a brand new coronavirus culture is emerging, andContinue Reading
A locked-down halls of residence at the University of Dundee at the end of September. Lucas Nightingale/Shutterstock Plastered in mock desperation to the windows of university halls, cheeky signs requesting alcohol and other student necessities were briefly entertaining. But for those involved, the novelty – if there ever was oneContinue Reading
Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan intensified in early October over Nagorno-Karabakh, the disputed region in the South Caucasus at the centre of a conflict that has lasted for more than three decades. The South Caucasus is sandwiched between Russia to the north, Iran to the south and Turkey to theContinue Reading
As we head into the colder months, the increased threat of a second spike in the pandemic has forced the UK government to reintroduce new restrictive measures, including targeted local lockdowns, new rules (“of six”) and early pub closures. At the same time, compliance is fraying. One of the deeperContinue Reading
