Elon Musk says he may launch his own party: but US history tells us that’s not a recipe for success: To paraphrase a very old joke, how do you make a small fortune in America? Start with a large fortune and fund a third political party. American political history is littered with the wrecks of …
Do shorter prison sentences make society less safe? What the evidence says: The final report of the Independent Sentencing Review has proposed the most significant reform of sentencing and punishment in England and Wales since the 1990s. The review, chaired by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke, calls for a number of changes to address …
Starmer says migrants should speak English – but all of the UK’s languages are important for integration: William Perugini/Shutterstock When Keir Starmer said: “If you want to live in the UK, you should speak English”, it laid bare an assumption – that English is the only language that counts in the UK. This view not …
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says antidepressants are harder to quit than heroin – is he right?: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been sworn in as the US health and human services secretary, despite saying a few things that raised eyebrows during his confirmation hearing. One of those things was the claim that some people have …
Fifty years after the discovery of Lucy, it’s time to ‘decolonise paleoanthropology’ says leading Ethiopian fossil expert – podcast: On November 24 1974, renowned American paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson spotted “a piece of elbow with humanlike anatomy” poking out of a rocky hillside in northern Ethiopia. It was the first fossil of a partial skeleton belonging …
Opt-out laws designed to make organ donation easier may have actually made it harder, says research: In 2020, England introduced an opt-out system for organ donation with the aim of making it easier for organs to be donated after a person’s death. The Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act 2019 assumed that unless someone explicitly opted …
Kenyan protesters are demanding President Ruto be removed – what the law says about how that could happen: In June 2024, many Kenyans took to the streets to protest what they believed were punitive taxes imposed by President William Ruto’s government. Though the president caved in and withdrew the contentious Finance Bill 2024, protesters are …
Young people led surge for smaller parties but no Reform ‘youthquake’, says UK election survey: One of the defining features of contemporary electoral politics in Britain is the age divide. Young people are far more likely to support Labour, and older people to support the Conservatives. This divide is still apparent following the 2024 election …
French election: far-right government blocked as Le Pen’s alliance pushed into third place, says exit poll: And so it did not come to pass. For all the expectation – and yes, fear among some in France and around the world – the far-right appears to have failed in its bid to gain a majority in …
Ukraine recap: Russia won’t attack Nato countries says Putin, believe it or not: Vladimir Putin says he has no intention of attacking any Nato members. Visiting an airbase in Torzhok, on the road between Moscow and St Petersburg, the Russian president told a group of pilots he didn’t plan to spark a war with any …
US calls for UN vote on immediate ceasefire in Gaza – what this shift says about America’s relationship with Israel: The United States has significantly shifted its position on Gaza by submitting a UN security council resolution calling for an “immediate and sustained ceasefire”, tied to the release of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas. This …
If e-scooter riders are breaking the law, it’s mostly because they don’t know what it says: Victor Velter|Shutterstock Paris has become the first European capital to outlaw rental e-scooters. Deputy mayor David Belliard has said the ban, which came into effect on September 1 2023, is about opting for peace on the city’s streets: “We’re …
Genetically modified crops aren’t a solution to climate change, despite what the biotech industry says: Barbara Van Dyck The European Commission launched a proposal in July 2023 to deregulate a large number of plants manufactured using new genetic techniques. Despite extraordinary attempts by the Spanish presidency to force a breakthrough, EU members have not yet …
Gaza war: US-Israel relationship is in period of transition as Biden says Israel is losing support: With US president Joe Biden under increasing pressure to alter his policy towards Israel, it is significant that he has said publicly that Israel is starting to lose international support for its offensive over “indiscriminate” bombing of Gaza. His …
World Bank suspension of Uganda funds over anti-homosexuality law: what this says about the struggle over funds and sovereignty: The World Bank issued a statement on 8 August 2023, announcing that it had effectively suspended all new public financing to Uganda over concerns with the country’s anti-homosexuality law, which “fundamentally contradicts the World Bank Group’s …
Israel-Hamas war: hard experience says a land war won’t go well – and faltering international support suggests the world knows it: For the past four decades, Israel’s experience of fighting paramilitary militias has been grim. Its last major operation was in southern Lebanon, which started with Operation Peace for Galilee in 1982. While initially successful, …
Xi-Putin meeting: here’s what it says about their current, and future, relationship: Vladimir Putin is expected to travel outside the borders of the former Soviet Union for the first time in 20 months to meet China’s Xi Jinping on October 17. The visit, if it happens, is likely to entrench a relationship in which Russia …
‘We could eradicate malaria by 2040’ says expert after revolutionary vaccine is approved by WHO: The World Health Organization has approved a new vaccine that scientists argue will be a game-changer in the fight against malaria, which kills half a million people in Africa every year. Trials have shown that the R21/Matrix vaccine, developed by …