Climate change first ‘went viral’ exactly 70 years ago: We have grown so used to many things. To the pictures of wildfires and cremated animals, to the ice sheets calving into the ocean, to the promises of world leaders that they will heed the “last chance” warning of the scientists. It’s hard for anyone under …
I’ve worked in precarious jobs for more than 10 years – here’s what unions should do to support migrant workers: As I rush to clean everything before the sink overfills with plates and pans, I am confronted, yet again, with the brutality of my working conditions. My feet and legs throb and ache from sole …
Kenya banned plastic bags 6 years ago, but they are still in use – what went wrong: A shopper risks arrest in Nakuru, Kenya, for carrying groceries in banned plastic bags in 2022. James Wakibia/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Kenya banned the use of plastic carrier bags in 2017, prompted by environmental and health costs. …
Crimestoppers: the charity providing an anonymous link between the public and the police for 35 years: Crimestoppers, the crime-fighting charity, has been an anonymous link between the UK public and the police for 35 years. From everyday concerns about drug dealing and dangerous driving to taking critical information on murders, Crimestoppers receives more than half …
Belfast has more peace walls now than 25 years ago – removing them will be a complex challenge: Since the first paramilitary ceasefires in 1994, the Northern Ireland peace process has addressed a series of contentious issues. Prisoners have been released, weapons decommissioned. Policing and power sharing have been discussed. Quite how the conflict shaped …
Children have been interacting in the metaverse for years – what parents need to know about keeping them safe: Frame Stock Footage/Shutterstock The metaverse sounds like it could be a scary place. Recent headlines have highlighted the dangers to children of the metaverse – a generic term for the range of online virtual worlds, developed …
Rana Plaza: ten years after the Bangladesh factory collapse, we are no closer to fixing modern slavery: It’s ten years since the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza building near Dhaka, Bangladesh, which killed at least 1,132 garment workers and injured several thousand more. The collapse of the eight-storey building on April 24 2013, which …
Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds predicted environmental crisis 70 years ago: In Daphne du Maurier’s short story, The Birds (1952), a change in bird behaviour is linked to the impact of technological developments after the second world war. Birds, as the 2022 State of the World’s Birds report warns, are “barometers for planetary health”. Nearly …
Good Friday Agreement: 25 years on, the British government is seeking to undo key terms of the peace deal: The Good Friday Agreement ended a conflict that claimed more than 3,500 lives between 1968 and 1998. It is estimated that one-third of the adult population in Northern Ireland has been directly affected by bereavement, physical …
Archaeology shows how hunter-gatherers fitted into southern Africa’s first city, 800 years ago: Archaeologists excavate inside and outside Little Muck Shelter, in the Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa. Photo: Tim Forssman Where the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers meet, forming the modern border between Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, lies a hill that hardly stands out …
How UK broadcasting’s key principle of impartiality has been eroded over the years: A word that was bandied about freely in the wake of the Gary Lineker-BBC affair was “impartiality”. Apparently the gold standard of UK broadcasting, it was something that certain critics judged the BBC sports presenter to have breached in his personal social …
The World Bank used to cause untold harm – but 30 years ago it started reforming. What went right: Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Development projects can have profound impacts on their societies. There are many benefits that flow from building new roads and power plants, and from modernising agricultural practices. But …
COVID pandemic: three years on and nobody wants to talk about it – here’s why we should: Three years ago, Boris Johnson made a unique address to the British public. Sitting at a desk in Downing Street, hands firmly clasped and hair more kempt than usual, Johnson told the nation: “You must stay at home.” …
Iraq war 20 years on: how the role of empire and imperialism in the Middle East has been misconstrued: Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo Before the US-led coalition’s occupation of Iraq starting in March 2003, there was at least one subject upon which certain advocates and opponents of the war agreed: that the …
Iraq war 20 years on: the British government has never fully learnt from Tony Blair’s mistakes: EPA/Chris Ison The Iraq war remains the UK’s most investigated foreign policy decision of the past 50 years. As the world marks 20 years since the invasion that killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, we have to ask, has …
Iraq 20 years on: death came from the skies on March 19 2003 – and the killing continues to this day: The mass killings of Iraqis started on the night of March 19 2003 with the US-led coalition’s “shock and awe” bombing of Baghdad. They called it “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. Millions around the world sat …
Iraq 20 years on: researchers assess how US invasion shapes lives today – podcast: An abandoned house in the old town of Mosul, Iraq. (Ali Al-Baroodi, @ali_albaroodi), Author provided On March 19, 2003, the United States led an unlawful invasion into Iraq — at the time, the reason given was the search for weapons of …
Spring budget 2023: free early years places extended – but needs of children and staff must not be forgotten: DGLimages/Shutterstock The centrepiece of the spring 2023 budget was the provision of funded early years places for children of working parents. This will be expanded to cover children from nine months old until they start school, …