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
Trump's Facebook following has more than doubled since 2016. Pe3k/Shutterstock Facebook was the election battleground that helped fuel Donald Trump’s journey to the White House in 2016, and the president continues to dominate on the social media platform in 2020. My initial analysis of 4,450 Facebook posts from equal campaignContinue Reading
Two weeks after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, the UK government announced Everyone In, a scheme to protect people sleeping rough from catching the virus. The policy was highly demanding. It gave local authorities across England just three days to move all people sleeping roughContinue 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
The 2020 US presidential election campaign is moving quickly and the news media are valiantly struggling to keep abreast of what’s happening. Day in, day out there’s a relentless source of material to report. It’s hard enough for journalists, let alone the people they are striving to keep informed aheadContinue Reading
Worth shouting about? patcharapon via Shutterstock While Donald Trump’s positive test for COVID-19 provoked volatility on US stock markets, they remain only a few percentage points down from the all-time highs reached in early September. After a crash in March caused by the pandemic, major US stock markets such asContinue Reading
In his brilliant new book Who Enters Politics and Why?, academic James Weinberg provides possibly the most sophisticated analysis of why some people decide to stand for office and others don’t. His research discovers that when it comes to their basic human values, politicians really are “different”. Having spent theContinue Reading
Positivity is widely seen as an important quality for effective leadership. Upbeat and optimistic leaders can inspire commitment and creativity. But when taken to excess, being positive can become manipulative and counterproductive. In fact, my research has found that excessive positivity can be extremely dangerous. I have examined the frequentContinue Reading
