I asked the pilot to deviate from our approved flight path and go low over Darfur. It was 2003 and I was the United Nations Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator in Sudan investigating reports of violence. What I saw was a genocide unfolding on my wa...
UK environment secretary Thérèse Coffey has demanded that water companies share plans for how they will reduce sewage discharges into rivers. They could start by coming clean on how much sewage is being dumped. If we don’t know how much sewage is act...
When Prince Harry sat down with ITV journalist Tom Bradby for a conversation about his marriage, his estrangement from the royal family and his tell-all memoir, Spare, one particular segment stood out. Bradby said that Harry had accused some members ...
The UK government recently launched “It all adds up”, a campaign aimed at providing “simple, low or no-cost actions that households can take to immediately cut energy use and save money”. The campaign speaks to persistent calls to increase the assist...
Austerity in the UK is here to stay. The Bank of England has warned that the country is facing the longest recession since records began, predicting that the economic slump will extend well into 2024. ...
The cinematic character of James Bond has changed with the times since the first Bond film Dr No was released back in 1962. We have seen Bond as a chauvinistic womaniser, a fun-loving bon vivant, and, more recently, a sometimes brutal yet three-dimen...
The first cohort of students in England taking T-levels – the new vocational equivalent to A-levels – have completed their course, been assessed, and have received their results.
For the first time in several generations, inflation is a concern for people in the UK. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 9% in the year to April 2022, the highest 12-month inflation rate since reliable records began. ...
Liverpool against Real Madrid in the Champions League final is a fixture for football fans to savour – two giants battling it out for one of the most prized trophies in the game. And regardless of the result, some will also see this match as a win fo...
Since Imran Khan was ousted as prime minister of Pakistan on April 9, the future of the long disputed and war-torn Kashmir region, on the borders of India and Pakistan, is at the forefront of many minds....
What does it mean to be a Ukrainian? In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we talk to three experts about the origins of Ukrainian nationalism, and how Ukrainian national identity is changing....
With an estimated population of more than 3.7 million people, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is home to about a quarter of Ethiopia’s urban population.
The ability to recognise faces is important in many different real life contexts and fundamental to our social relationships and interactions. It allows us to identify people we care about, and respond appropriately to them....
Going on a retreat seems like the very definition of a solitary experience. You leave behind your friends, family, and colleagues, giving up everyday life, responsibilities, cares and frustrations, for some quality time on your own....
Poor air quality is the biggest environmental health issue facing the UK, linked to an estimated 64,000 deaths a year, disproportionately affecting disadvantaged communities, and tackling this crisis should be at the top of everyone’s agenda.
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This week, the UK government sought to put itself firmly in the global driver’s seat for cutting carbon. The Prime Minister announced an amazingly ambitious target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 78% from 1990 levels by 2035. This is world-le...
Safeguarding people's living standards, re-evaluating the role of key workers in society, and reducing racial and social inequality are crucial for the UK’s economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
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A leading group of University of Manchester academics are imploring policy makers to use the UK’s post-pandemic recovery as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead a positive green revolution.
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Obamagate is the latest conspiracy theory to be pushed by US president, Donald Trump. It started on the morning of May 10, when Trump retweeted the word “OBAMAGATE!” By the next day, the Obamagate hashtag had accrued over two million tweets and ...
In these difficult times, the press and the public are piling complaints on governments and corporations over their responses to the pandemic - yet it is amazing how well shutdowns and quarantines have worked so far in the developed world (protests l...
Urgent fundamental changes to ‘fast fashion’ clothing items which are treated by many as disposable is needed to stem a devastating impact upon the environment according to scientists.
Don’t take toilets for granted. Their connection to a managed sewage disposal system protects you from diseases and infections that can stunt your growth, harm your nutrition and even kill you.
For some 670 million people, this basic service is no...
The UK will go to the polls on December 12 for the third time in four years. Climate change didn’t make waves in previous elections, but this one may be different. Youth climate strikers have launched a petition calling on the UK’s political parties ...
No matter how elegant your theory is, experimental data will have the last word. Observations of the retrograde motion of the planets were fundamental to the Copernican revolution, in which the sun replaced Earth at the centre of the solar system. An...
Concern has been growing over rising rates of self-harm in teenagers. In the UK and Ireland, increases began around the time of the 2008 economic crash and show no sign of slowing. One study of the UK found rates among teenage girls rose by two-third...
Labour have voted on plans to abolish private schools by removing their charitable status and redistributing their wealth to the state sector. At the party’s conference delegates approved a motion for this to be included in the party’s next general e...
University of Manchester - Archive (expert-comment)
Peace in Sudan depends on justice for the Darfur genocide
To clean up England’s rivers we need to know how much sewage is dumped – but water firms won’t tell us
Prince Harry is wrong: unconscious bias is not different to racism
The UK needs a national energy advice service
Austerity has its own life – here’s how it lives on in future generations
James Bond’s ethnicity might change – but his accent probably won’t
T-Levels: more vocational courses roll out – but post-16 choices in England are still limited
Young adults and the courts: prosecution and prejudice
Inflation: how experts pick goods to track price changes and what it says about UK consumers
Champions League final 2022: the economic tactics that drive Liverpool and Real Madrid
Bullying: why most people do nothing when they witness it – and how to take action
Kashmir: what happens after Imran Khan’s downfall?
The history and evolution of Ukrainian national identity – podcast
Ukraine’s opiate users: Russian invasion has severely disrupted access to drug-treatment services
How to write to your MP if you’re concerned about the crisis in Ukraine
Addis Ababa yet to meet the needs of residents: what has to change
From ‘super-recognisers’ to the ‘face blind’ – how tests reveal the underlying cognitive processes
‘I did not see them; I saw their soul’: retreats are more about magical encounters than self-exploration
Is the UK government’s clean air approach good enough?
The UK and the UN SDGs: Make or Break Time
Tackling inequality is key for post-Covid economic recovery say experts
Manchester scientists see COVID-19 as historic moment for UK’s environmental future
How to understand Obamagate – Donald Trump’s latest conspiracy theory
Whatever the hardships of COVID-19, let's be thankful it wasn't COVID-99
Environmental cost of ‘fast fashion’ is not sustainable
A global ‘toilet revolution’ is underway – but it’s polluting water and ignoring the urban poor
To win a climate election, parties need ambition, not compromise with the fossil fuel industry
Shape of the universe: could it be curved, not flat?
Teen self-harm: rates have decreased in Denmark – here’s what other countries can learn
Abolishing private schools is admirable, but won’t make choosing a state one any easier for parents