By Meg Kobza, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Newcastle University
Would you dare to play Snapdragon and pluck a flaming raisin from a fiery bowl of brandy? Or don the costume of a comedic character on Twelfth Night? Jane Austen certainly would have – and did.
These games were two among many festive traditions that featured in the Georgian Christmas season and were part of Austen’s yuletide experience. Much like our own holiday season, it was a time filled with frivolity, fun, and friendly gatherings – as Mr Elton confirms in the pages of Emma…
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By Kiera Vaclavik, Professor of Children's Literature & Childhood Culture, Queen Mary University of London
Christmas can be a bit of a performance. It often involves harassed people doing a lot. But for many of us, alongside all the stressful preparations, it will include some kind of theatre visit, whether a panto, musical or ballet, such as The Nutcracker.
These days a way to escape the tyranny of digital screens, family trips to the theatre were already a tradition by the end of the 19th century. Children’s books of “the…
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By Primrose Freestone, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Microbiology, University of Leicester
A microbiologist explains why Christmas food is riskier than we realise, and how to keep your holiday both joyful and safe.
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By Clare Anderson, Professor of Sleep and Circadian Science, University of Birmingham
Christmas disrupts sleep more than any other time of year. Here are 12 hidden culprits and how to beat them.
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By Sara Fregonese, Associate Professor of political geography, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, University of Birmingham
Paul Simpson, Associate Head of School, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth
The mass shooting during Hanukkah in Bondi Beach is a horrific reminder that contemporary terrorism can affect the places where we meet others, shop, celebrate and conduct our daily lives. However, our research suggests that what the UK public fears and assumes about terrorism threats is quite different from reality.
In 2022, we asked 5,000 people in the UK about their experiences and perceptions of terror threat and counter-terrorism…
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By Robyn Klingler-Vidra, Vice Dean, Global Engagement | Associate Professor in Political Economy and Entrepreneurship, King's College London
Make American shipbuilding great again (Masga) may sound like an effort by the US to bolster its economic strength and project power internationally, but Masga is not an American policy. It is a South Korean initiative that emerged following trade talks with the US in June.
Rather than responding to the Trump administration’s tariff threats solely through trade negotiations, Korean officials saw an opportunity to show their American counterparts that South…
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By Nikki Ikani, Assistant Professor Intelligence & Security, Leiden University; King's College London
There’s an unwritten rule in publishing, or so I’ve been told: don’t write about COVID. Our collective attention span has been saturated by those endless months holed up in attics and cramped corners of apartments, staring out at a world we could no longer take part in. When the worst of it passed, we felt an urge to close that chapter, to padlock it behind a heavy latch.
But in doing so, we also tuck away the hard-won lessons of that time: how quickly systems buckle, how two decades of coronavirus warnings…
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By Charlotte Entwistle, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow in Psychology, University of Liverpool
Is it possible to spot personality dysfunction from someone’s everyday word use? My colleagues and I have conducted research that suggests you can, and often sooner than you might expect.
Whether in a quick text message, a long email, a casual chat with a friend, or a comment online, the words people choose quietly reveal deeper patterns in how they think, feel, and relate to others.
Everyone has personality traits – habitual ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. When these patterns become rigid, intense or disruptive, they can cause ongoing problems with emotions, sense…
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By Simona Sagone, PhD Candidate, Green Finance, Lund University; University of Palermo
The EU’s new carbon tax is reshaping global trade – and starting to influence what people buy and how much they pay for it.
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By Paul Jones, Associate Dean for Education and Student Experience at Aston Business School, Aston University
The pressure to be joyful can make Christmas feel isolating. A psychologist explains how you can find connection on your own terms.
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