By Hussein Boon, Principal Lecturer, Music, University of Westminster
Andrew J. Green, Lecturer in the Anthropology of Music, King's College London
Chris Waugh, Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, Manchester Metropolitan University
Douglas Schulz, Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, University of Bradford
Ellis Jones, Lecturer in Music and Management, University of Leeds
Eva Dieteren, PhD researcher in Gender and Popular Music, Kingston University
Glenn Fosbraey, Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Winchester
Julia Toppin, Senior Lecturer, Music Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, University of Westminster
Samuel Murray, Lecturer in Music Management, University of Leeds
Stephen Ryan, Course Director, MA in Songwriting, University of Limerick
With Something Good, the arts and culture newsletter from The Conversation, we aim to cut through the noise and recommend the very best in new releases every fortnight. And what a soundtrack this year’s newsletters have had. From Lily Allen’s devastating breakup album West End Girl to Rosalía’s genre-defying LUX,…
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By Ruth Barton, Fellow Emeritus in Film Studies, Trinity College Dublin
Barry Langford, Professor of Film Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London
Edward White, PhD Candidate in Psychology, Kingston University
Laura O'Flanagan, PhD Candidate, School of English, Dublin City University
Rachel Stuart, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Deviant Identities, Brunel University of London
In no particular order, here are The Conversation’s top five films of 2025 as reviewed by our experts.
1. One Battle After Another
The latest film from director Paul Thomas Anderson follows Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ageing hippie hero and a relic of a fictional noughties brigade, the French 75. Led by his lover Perfidia Beverley Hills (Teyana Taylor), they robbed banks, bombed buildings and liberated detention centres in the name of their ideology of “free borders, free choices, free from fear”.
Left to bring up their daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), Bob spends…
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By Lori Hoy, Researcher in Leisure, Tourism, and Hospitality, Leeds Beckett University
Luxury pet pampering packages at hotels, menus with dog-friendly roast dinners and £6,000 animal-friendly charter flights. Pet travel isn’t just a trend, it’s something of a transformation. This is the “pawprint economy” – and it’s booming.
Globally, the pet industry is projected to reach US$500 billion (£375 billion) by 2030, with pet travel services alone expected…
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By Tessa Whitehouse, Reader in 18th-century Literature and Director of Queen Mary Centre for Religion and Literature, Queen Mary University of London
Inés Gregori Labarta, Lecturer in Creative Writing, Lancaster University
James Miller, Senior Lecturer, School of Creative and Cultural Industries, Kingston University
Jenni Ramone, Associate Professor of Postcolonial and Global Literatures, Nottingham Trent University
Leigh Wilson, Professor of English Literature, University of Westminster
Prathiksha Betala, PhD Researcher in Feminist Futurities, Leeds Beckett University
Reading is very subjective, but one thing most book lovers can agree on is that 2025 was a notable year for fresh, inventive, affecting storytelling. Books translated from their original language are proving increasingly popular as readers seek out global perspectives beyond their own, as evidenced in this year’s International Booker win, Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, which is included here.
We also bring you five other novels our academic experts have chosen as their favourites this year. From a Mrs Dalloway for the service economy, to a dreamlike encounter between people across time,…
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By Anne Cronin, PhD Candidate, Medicine, University of Limerick
Anthony Kelly, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Limerick
Across GP surgeries and hospitals, as migration increases and health systems strain, doctors are turning to an untested helper: Google Translate.
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By Matyas Liptovszky, Professor of Practice and Head of Division of Population Science, University of Nottingham
Great apes are hugely popular with the public at zoos, but a dark illegal trade is affecting the survival of these much-loved animals.
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By Sally Christine Reynolds, Associate Professor in Hominin Palaeoecology, Bournemouth University
Scientists have discovered the single largest dinosaur track site in the world in Carreras Pampa, Torotoro National Park, Bolivia. The tracks were made around 70 million years ago, in the late Cretaceous Period, by theropods – bipedal three-toed dinosaurs – with bird tracks also present in this ancient beach scene.
Over 16,600 footprints and swim traces cover the ancient trackway surface, all heading in the same direction. Swim traces form when floating or swimming animals briefly…
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By Christian Goodwillie, Director and Curator of Special Collections and Archives, Hamilton College
Director Mona Fastvold’s new film, “The Testament of Ann Lee,” features actor Amanda Seyfried in the titular role: the English spiritual seeker who brought the Shaker movement to America. The trailer literally writhes with snakes intercut amid scenes of emotional turmoil, religious ecstasy, orderly and disorderly dancing – and sex. Intense and sometimes menacing music underpins it all: the sounds of the enraptured, singing their way to a fantastic and unimaginable ceremony.
The trailer is riveting and unsettling…
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By Naomi Cahn, Professor of Law, University of Virginia
Reid Kress Weisbord, Distinguished Professor of Law and Judge Norma Shapiro Scholar, Rutgers University - Newark
These rules have a long history in the United States. They played a role in the notorious murders by the Menendez brothers and Scott Peterson.
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By Amnesty International
Preparations for this weekend’s first round of junta-imposed elections in Myanmar have resulted in unlawful attacks that may amount to war crimes as well as a drastic increase in arbitrary detentions and further crackdowns on freedom of expression, Amnesty International said today. The military’s passage in July of the Law on the Protection of Multiparty […] The post Myanmar: Repressive tactics intensify before junta-imposed elections appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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