Starmer must seize the chance to rethink the UK-Europe relationship – here’s how he can do it: In the first general election since the UK officially left the EU, both Labour and Conservative leaders were conspicuously mute about Brexit. There have been some vague aspirations to “seize its opportunities” or “make it work”, but otherwise, …
South Africa’s police are losing the war on crime – here’s how they need to rethink their approach: South Africa’s crime statistics for the third quarter of 2023 show that people continue to face a serious problem of violent crime, especially murder and attempted murder. The country’s per capita murder rate for 2022/23 was the …
Cannabis is illegal in Nigeria but provides a living for families – study calls for rethink of drug laws: Arriving at the tranquil village health facility in southwestern Nigeria, we were met by a small gathering of men – young and old – with thinly veiled excitement. These rural farmers were visibly intrigued by our …
Kenya and the US are negotiating a trade deal that could be a model for Africa – but its position on workers needs a rethink: Provisions for mandatory inspections to ascertain labour practices are controversial. Noor Khamis/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images The US and Kenya announced a trade and investment partnership in July 2022. Talks have been …
How Russia might rethink its alliance with China after Putin: The Kremlin. Shutterstock For more than three decades, Moscow and Beijing have been incrementally strengthening their partnership. The growing number of potentially conflicting interests, for instance over investment and exploration in the Arctic, have not slowed down cooperation. Despite Russia becoming China’s “junior partner” over …
It’s important to rethink the purpose of university education — a philosopher of education explains why: Universities should be in the business of fostering understanding. Goodboy Picture Company/Getty Images Most philosophers of education or philosophically inclined scholars of education in the past century and a half would agree with the claim that, ideally, education should …
Animal consciousness: why it’s time to rethink our human-centred approach: Aleksey Mnogosmyslov/Shutterstock While we may enjoy the company of companion animals or a fleeting encounter with wildlife, many people believe humans have a superior consciousness of the world we live in. Every now and then, though, new study findings about the surprising intelligence of other …
It’s time to rethink what citizen science really is: Evaluating what citizen science is involves looking at the concept of science itself. Charles F. Kaye/Shutterstock Citizen science is a popular method of gathering data for natural and social scientists, with the number of projects and publications produced growing year by year. A typical citizen science …
ChatGPT is the push higher education needs to rethink assessment: With proper teaching, students can use ChatGPT to develop their arguments and build their essays. Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock The COVID-19 pandemic was a shock to higher education systems everywhere. But while some changes, like moving lectures online, were relatively easy to make, assessment posed a much bigger …
Ukraine 12 months at war: why Kyiv’s western allies must rethink the limits of their military aid: “Range anxiety” is a phrase most often associated with electric vehicles having to regularly charge their batteries. But it is also central to an understanding of the protracted nature of the limited war being fought between Russia and …
COVID vaccines: why the UK needs to rethink its decision to stop boosters for young and healthy people: AnnaStills/Shutterstock The UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recently recommended that the current autumn booster campaign, offering additional COVID vaccine doses to higher-risk groups, including people with certain medical conditions and those aged over 50, …
ChatGPT: students could use AI to cheat, but it’s a chance to rethink assessment altogether: ChatGPT is a powerful language model developed by OpenAI that has the ability to generate human-like text, making it capable of engaging in natural language conversations. This technology has the potential to revolutionise the way we interact with computers, and …
Supply chain management in Africa needs a rethink — COVID changed everything, or did it?: The cost and speed of moving supplies around the world have gone up Flickr/Wikimedia Commons COVID-19 has laid bare the vulnerability of the supply chain model that has dominated the way African firms have organised their production. In this model …
Ghana’s high school system sets many students up for failure: it needs a rethink: Legacy schools in Ghana are over subscribed. Wikimedia Commons Around the world, educational research has found that students’ achievement and experiences largely depend on which school they attend and the resources available to support learning. Educational policies mostly determine the distribution …
South Africa should rethink regulations on genetically modified plants: New technologies can bolster the production of important crops to feed billions of people. Shutterstock Food security is a global priority – and it is becoming more urgent in the face of climate change, which is already affecting crop productivity. One way to improve food security …
After a fourth coup in West Africa, it’s time to rethink international response: Demonstrators hold a picture of Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba who led the coup against Burkina Faso president Roch Kabore. Photo by Olympia De Maismont/AFP via Getty Images The latest coup in Burkina Faso is the fourth in Africa’s Sahel region in …
A&E wait times: why the four hour target might need a re-think: There are some misconceptions about what the four hour target actually means. Medical-R/ Shutterstock People who attend accident and emergency (A&E) departments in the UK are supposed to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours. But these targets haven’t been hit in …
China’s long-term problems are forcing it to rethink the whole economy: Stuck in first gear. Yannes Kiefer/Unsplash The People’s Bank of China is encouraging Chinese banks to lend more to businesses and consumers by cutting the proportion of deposits that they have to hold as reserves by 0.5 percentage points to an average of 8.4% …