Ukraine: Beijing’s peace initiative offers glimpse at how China plans to win the war: Beijing’s “Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis” has now been officially released by the country’s foreign ministry, after being foreshadowed by China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, at the recent Munich Security Conference. Short on detail and rich in …
Zimbabwe’s budget plans open door for growth. But only if high interest rates don’t derail them: A food vendor in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The rise in food prices has begun to ease in the country. Photo by Zinyange Auntony/AFP via Getty Images When Zimbabwe’s finance minister Mthuli Ncube presented the national budget for 2023 to Parliament …
NHS plans to expand ‘virtual wards’ – but who will staff them?: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock To tackle ever-increasing hospital waiting times, the government is reforming the way the NHS provides services. One of these reforms is the expansion of virtual wards. The goal is to treat 50,000 people a month in their homes, using …
Rishi Sunak is right about a lack of maths skills in England: here’s how plans to extend teaching could work: Ground Picture/Shutterstock UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has proposed making the study of mathematics compulsory for all students in England up to the age of 18, to help young people “in a world where data …
LGBTIQ learners at risk in South Africa as conservative Christian groups fight plans for safer schools: Viacheslav Chernobrovin/Getty Images, CC BY-SA Advocacy groups in South Africa are intensifying their efforts to prevent the country’s education department from creating safer environments for children of diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. Some of the advocacy groups have …
England’s housing strategy carries a high carbon cost – unless politicians are willing to change plans: The government's response to the housing crisis has been to build more homes. M2020/Shutterstock England’s housing sector accounts for 20% of the country’s emissions. Its stock is outdated and efforts to improve the energy efficiency of England’s homes are …
China: Xi Jinping poised for a third term with no plans to relinquish power any time soon: It is a certainty that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will be confirmed in office at the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, currently being held in Beijing. At 69, Xi is also tipped to become the …
Africa in space: continent has a lot to gain, but proper plans must be put in place: iStock / Getty Images Plus Every year in October nearly 100 countries organise activities to mark World Space Week. The theme this year is space and sustainability. In this interview, Adejuwon Soyinka, West Africa regional editor at The …
Liz Truss’s ‘destructive’ plans have angered environmental groups – here’s why: The RSPB, National Trust and Wildlife Trust have a combined 8 million members. Chedko/Shutterstock Several leading conservation charities including the RSPB, National Trust and Wildlife Trust have voiced anger over the new government’s “destructive” approach to nature. The groups have urged their 8 million …
Mini budget 2022: experts react to the new UK government’s spending and tax-cut plans: UK chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has just launched the biggest package of tax cuts in half a century. This will involve around £45bn of reductions for people and businesses by 2027 – 50% more than anticipated before the mini-budget announcement. Amid the …
Net zero: Copenhagen’s failure to meet its 2025 target casts doubt on other major climate plans: Michele Ursi/Shutterstock The city of Copenhagen, often celebrated as one of the world’s greenest for its cycling culture and other initiatives, recently defaulted on its pledge to become carbon-neutral by 2025. This early failure in the global race to …
Cost of living crisis: why plans to reform the Bank of England won’t help it stop spiralling inflation: The Bank of England, London aslysun / Shutterstock The UK cost of living crisis has been building since early 2021. At 10.1%, the current rate of consumer price inflation is the highest in 40 years and the …
Facial recognition: UK plans to monitor migrant offenders are unethical – and they won’t work: Facial recognition technology struggles to recognise darker skin tones Nazar Kantora/ Shutterstock One afternoon in our lab, my colleague and I were testing our new prototype for a facial recognition software on a laptop. The software used a video camera …
How England plans to cut back ‘low value’ degrees so it can reap more student loan repayments: 4 PM production/Shutterstock Rishi Sunak, one of the candidates to be the UK’s next prime minister, has vowed to “crack down” on university degrees with poor career outcomes. This is not a new idea. The university regulator in …
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak want to crack down on migration – an expert reviews their plans: Immigration is an ideological headache for the UK’s Conservative party, caught between its neoliberal new right that champions free markets, and its social conservatism, which immigration is said to threaten. But a restrictive immigration stance has been a …
Corporation tax: why plans to set a global rate are too complicated and need a new approach: Shutterstock/metamorworks Back in 2021, the world’s richest countries announced plans to agree and enforce a minimum rate of corporation tax. The idea was to solve the problem of large companies generating huge revenues but paying very little tax …
The UK’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda raise four red flags: British Home Secretary Priti Patel (left), and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, seal asylum seeker deal with a handshake. Photo by Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP via Getty Images Like many others, I was surprised and upset to hear about the UK’s new deal to …
South Africa is proposing plans to manage diseases like COVID. Why they’re flawed: Countries face the reality of co-existing with COVID-19. Charday Penn /GettyImages At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the South African government published “special regulations” to contain the spread of the disease. These actions were taken under special powers granted by the …