By Simon Potter, Professor of Modern History, University of Bristol
Matt Brittin has been named the new director general of the BBC. He joins the broadcaster after almost two decades working at Google: he was its president in Europe, the Middle East and Africa before leaving in 2024. He is already on the board of the Guardian Media Group.
The director general is the most senior executive at the BBC. The first director general was John Reith (later Lord Reith), a near legendary figure who dominated the organisation during its foundational period in the 1920s and 1930s.
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By Anthony Smith, Lecturer in Screen Studies, University of Salford
Its arrival creates uncertainty over what viewers are getting, from whom, and at what cost – a confusion rooted in the shared history between HBO and Sky in the UK.
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By Lynn Akesson, Professor Emerita of Ethnology in the Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences, Lund University
We live in an age where our houses are more full of stuff than ever. Death cleaning is an act of love that helps makes things for those you leave behind a lot easier
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By Jennifer Brant, Associate Professor in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Erenna Morrison, PhD Candidate, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Gayatri Thakor, PhD Student, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Jasmine Rice, PhD student, PhD student in the department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Miyopin Cheechoo, PhD Student, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Can we recommend replacement books for Thomas King on Indigenous reading lists? No, but we can recommend some of the many Indigenous authors whose brilliant work unsettles and expands literary study.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Villagers gather outside the civil court in Bangkok after the verdict in an environmental class-action lawsuit brought against the operators of Chatree Gold Mine, March 24, 2026. © 2026 Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images In a landmark class action lawsuit in Thailand, a court held a multinational corporation accountable for contamination from a gold mine and recognized the right of villagers in affected areas to effective remedies. On March 24, the Bangkok Civil Court ordered Akara Resources, a subsidiary of Australia-based Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd.,…
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By Alison Baker, Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies, University of East London
For 75 years, Dennis the Menace – wearing his signature red-and-black striped shirt and joined by his scruffy sidekick Gnasher – has been delighting children with his unapologetic mischief.
Dennis the Menace debuted in the Beano comic for children in March 1951 and quickly became a favourite with readers. His name derives from the music hall song Dennis the Menace from Venice, and his distinctive silhouette (very like that of his “Abyssinian wire-haired tripe…
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By Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, Professor in Global Thought and Comparative Philosophies, Inaugural Co-Director of Centre for AI Futures, SOAS, University of London
In a 1974 interview with the shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the US journalist Mike Wallace briefly referred to the dispute over the naming of what has been generally called “Sinus Persicus” (Persian Gulf) since ancient times – and what Wallace called “the Gulf”.
Pahlavi asked his interviewer: “Why do you call it ‘the Gulf’? You have been to school, haven’t you?” to which Wallace replied that he had. “What was the name that you read during your…
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By Peter R. Crabb, Professor of Finance and Economics, Northwest Nazarene University; Institute for Humane Studies
Alison Graham Larson, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Northwest Nazarene University
Companies that had sued for tariff refunds are taking different approaches to getting their money back – or quitting the effort.
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By Anne McNeil, Professor of Chemistry and Macromolecular Science and Engineering, University of Michigan
Madeline Clough, Ph.D. Candidate in Chemistry, University of Michigan
It seems like every day a new study finds tiny plastic particles called microplastics where they should not be: in our bodies and our food, water and air.
Yet finding and identifying microplastics is extremely challenging,…
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By Elizabeth Riley, Lecturer in Psychology, Cornell University
Keeping a tiny brain area called locus coeruleus functioning properly may stave off symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and keep the aging brain healthy
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