By Martin Farr, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History, Newcastle University
Despite his name – honouring Keir Hardie, the first leader of the Labour party – Keir Starmer is not known to be a student of political history. This apparent incuriosity helps define an indistinct political identity.
Asked which premier inspires him, Starmer cites Harold Wilson, an unusual choice – Attlee is much more revered in Labour – and superficially surprising. No politician was more political than Wilson: the moment a camera appeared his usual cigar and brandy was replaced with a pipe and a…
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By Renaud Foucart, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University
The Dink lifestyle is attractive: more money and time for yourselves. But on the salary of an average UK household, you won’t be able to buy an average house.
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By Matthew Holland, Postdoctoral Researcher, Medicinal Chemistry, University of Oxford
Five-thousand-year-old microbes reveal nature’s antibiotic arms race, and hold clues to both the threat of drug resistance and the cure.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A woman walks with a child in Roj camp, which holds foreign wives and children of Islamic State (ISIS) members, in northeast Syria, September 2018. © 2018 Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images (Beirut) – The United States transferred 5,700 detainees held for alleged ISIS affiliation from Northeast Syria to Iraq, where they are at risk of enforced disappearance, unfair trials, torture, ill-treatment, and violations of the right to life, Human Rights Watch said today. The United States began transferring the detainees, including Syrians, Iraqis, and third…
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By Se Youn Park, Sessional academic, School of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Queensland
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government will not help repatriate the 34 Australian women and children with links to Islamic State fighters who were released from a detention camp in Syria and are reportedly trying to return to Australia.
The women and children were among more than 2,000 people from 50 different countries detained at al-Roj camp in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria. The Australians were turned back by Syrian officials…
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By Fethi Mansouri, Deakin Distinguished Professor/UNESCO Chair-holder; Founding Director, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University
Racism is a “widespread” and “systemic” problem in Australian universities, a major new report has found. According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, about 80% of surveyed Indigenous, Chinese, African, Jewish and Middle Eastern students and staff say they have experienced racism at university.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman described the findings in the Racism@Uni report as sometimes “harrowing reading”.…
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Monday, February 16, 2026
As Ukraine prepares to enter the fifth year of the full-scale Russian invasion on 24 February, UN monitors say harm to civilians has “demonstrably worsened”, while energy attacks and freezing temperatures are making it harder for displaced families to return.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Farmers outside the “Sampling Room” at a Fergana Region cotton collection point (ginnery), September 2023. © 2023 Uzbek Forum The Uzbek government is violating the human and labor rights of cotton and wheat farmers through a coercive state production system, including penalties such as land seizure for not meeting quotas. Though the government has ended state-imposed forced labor of cotton pickers in the cotton harvest and has committed to broader reforms, the remaining system of strategic crop cultivation and production in Uzbekistan still creates a risk…
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By Jenna Imad Harb, Research Fellow, Australian National University
Kirsty Anantharajah, Research fellow, University of Canberra
When Bad Bunny and his dancers scaled power poles during his Super Bowl performance, he wasn’t just entertaining millions. He was spotlighting how Puerto Rico’s chronic power outages are a legacy of its…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Farmers outside the “Sampling Room” at a Fergana Region cotton collection point (ginnery), September 2023. © 2023 Uzbek Forum The Uzbek government is violating the human and labor rights of cotton and wheat farmers through a coercive state production system, including penalties such as land seizure for not meeting quotas. Though the government has ended state-imposed forced labor of cotton pickers in the cotton harvest and has committed to broader reforms, the remaining system of strategic crop cultivation and production in Uzbekistan still creates a risk…
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