YouTube: how a team of scientists worked to inoculate a million users against misinformation: The amount of information online is overwhelming. Shyntartanya From the COVID-19 pandemic to the war in Ukraine, misinformation is rife worldwide. Many tools have been designed to help people spot misinformation. The problem with most of them is how hard they …
Protests against UN in eastern Congo highlight peace mission’s crisis of legitimacy: A Congolese soldier in Goma during protests against the UN peacekeeping mission in July 2022. Michel Lunanga/AFP via Getty Images Violent protests erupted in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in late July 2022, resulting in the deaths of at least three peacekeepers and …
China: how does the UK’s power to push back against the rising superpower really compare to that of the EU?: Vladm/Shutterstock The EU has been at the forefront of political efforts to work with and check the threats represented by China to the west since 1975. In 2019, the EU labelled China “a systemic rival” …
Conservative leadership election: how the hopefuls stack up against former prime ministers in terms of experience: It is generally assumed that the best candidates for the job of prime minister are people who have considerable experience of top-level politics. Ideally, this experience would involve having served in the cabinet and in particular, having occupied one …
Vigilantism in South Africa carries historical imprints of past violence against black people: Family members wash away blood at the scene of a shooting in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, where seven people were shot dead in May. Brenton Geach/Gallo Images South Africa’s history of discrimination, racial segregation and extralegal violence has influenced patterns of violence today. …
EU taking legal action against UK over Northern Ireland protocol: how did we get here?: The EU is taking legal action against the UK in response to the government’s plan to revise the Northern Ireland protocol after the UK government released a bill proposing to unilaterally amend the legal mechanism that ensures smooth trade of …
Hybrid immunity: a combination of vaccination and prior infection probably offers the best protection against COVID: Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock When we’re exposed to a pathogen such as a virus, our immune system identifies it as a foreign invader and mounts an attack. This ultimately results in the formation of antibodies which can neutralise the invading pathogen …
Ukraine war: Kherson cafe bombing a sign of popular resistance building against Russians: When you invade a neighbouring country, armed resistance is to be expected. In addition to having to deal with Ukraine’s conventional forces, Russia is likely to find itself struggling to pacify the territory it has so far seized. Continued resistance in occupied …
Cluttercore: Gen Z’s revolt against millennial minimalism is grounded in Victorian excess: Andreas von Einsiedel/Alamy Have you heard maximalism is in and minimalism is out? Rooms bursting at the seams with clashing florals, colourful furniture and innumerable knick-knacks, this is what defines the new interiors trend cluttercore (or bricabracomania). Some say it’s a war between …
Ukrainian propaganda: how Zelensky is winning the information war against Russia: As well as success on the battlefield, wars are often won or lost through information advantage. In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, we might have expected Russia -– an old hand at propaganda -– to have bested Ukraine early on. Russia’s deception operations have had a …
Peacekeeping in South Sudan: it’s a race against time for the UN: Troops under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan on patrol in Juba. Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP via Getty Images A notable consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been the near-complete breakdown of what was already a deeply fraught relationship among the permanent …
How colonialism is a major cause of domestic abuse against women around the world: Canada's residential school system has had a lasting effect on First Nations communities. Blake Elliott | Shutterstock One in three women around the world will experience violence from an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. That is a shocking …
Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron go head to head: why many French voters will be voting against a candidate rather than for them: France’s electoral system is held over two rounds. In the first, anyone who meets the threshold criteria (this year, 12 candidates) can run. Assuming no one wins an absolute majority (this …
Ukraine: a divided America seeks moral clarity in a war against democracy: Americans have been consumed by the war in Ukraine with intensive media coverage across news platforms. This is unusual. Foreign affairs do not usually consume the American public unless the US is directly involved and American lives are at risk. What explains this …
The controversial Victorian novel that argued against the Deceased Wife’s Sister’s Marriage Act: Dinah Craik. National Portrait Gallery It was once illegal in Britain for a woman to marry the husband of her dead sister. Under the the Deceased Wife’s Sister’s, legally, they were seen as brother and sister, making such marriages incestuous. While it …
French election: who are the candidates running against Emmanuel Macron?: On April 10, 48 million French will be asked to vote in the first round of France’s 2022 presidential election. Of the 12 candidates, only two will qualify for the second-round runoff taking place on April 24. These are the candidates in the running. Emmanuel …
Ukraine war: evidence of atrocities in Kyiv’s suburbs strengthens case for a harder line against Russia: When Ukraine learned on April 2 that the whole Kyiv region had been liberated from Russian troops, there was barely any jubilation. This was mostly because of the gruesome evidence of war crimes left by the Russian occupying force …
Corporate sanctions against Russia indicate a new level of social responsibility: The war in Ukraine has resulted in many of the world’s biggest companies deciding to stop doing business with Russia. McDonald’s, IKEA, Apple are just some of the well known corporations making a stand. But why have they done this? After all, a famous …